To Dream In Darkness by Ann Liang
Read by: Natalie Naudus
Publication Date: October 27, 2027
Summary from NetGalley:
Two gods strike a bargain that leads them on a journey with devastating consequences in this lush historical fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Ann Liang.
China in the age of brilliance, where gods freely wander the three realms. Amongst them is the cruel and beautiful Death God, who has never failed to collect a soul on time. Until now. For when he seeks out Rujia, the noble god of healing—and the only god he is fated to kill with his own hands—she makes him an offer he can’t refuse: she will help lift the excruciating, century-old curse placed upon him if he gives her a one-month reprieve.
Rujia knows she isn’t as noble as everyone believes. Her deal with Death is merely an excuse to buy herself time while she figures out an escape plan. But when her plan causes the Celestial Palace’s collapse and the beloved crown prince’s disappearance, she and Death are both held responsible. The only way to avoid the wrath of all the other gods is to travel across the realms and safely retrieve the crown prince themselves.
Yet the journey proves far more treacherous than expected. As the unlikely alliance between them blooms into more, and Death’s resolve to kill Rujia weakens by the day, neither can outrun their intertwined fate without devastating consequences: A mysterious plague. An empire-destroying flood. A thousand deaths—and rising—to restore the balance Rujia’s disrupted. And if Rujia continues to live despite the will of the Heavens, this is only the beginning…
ALC provided by Macmillan Audio via Netgalley for an honest review.
To Dream in Darkness is a beautiful and poignant story about love and sacrificing everything for the one you love. The vivid world building and the multilayered and relatable characters made for a wonderful story that was hard to put down.
Natalie Naudus does a beautiful job bringing all of the characters to life, especially the three main characters whose voices were very distinct. She also does a great job with all of the other minor characters, and there were many, making their voices just as distinct. As marvelous as she is though, the book could only benefit from having different readers for each of our main characters.
Ruija, the goddess of healing, is the character that we hear from the most in this story. She is a compassionate person and very caring for the gods that she cares for. She is also very resilient and has a strong sense of survival. But she also has a vulnerable side and carries a great deal of grief for what happened to her parents. I loved how her relationship with the Death God slowly developed over the course of the story.
Keran, the God of Death, was also a very well rounded character, who strangely was also relatable. He was very lonely beneath his cold and terrifying pesona, and his tragic backstory just made you want to give him a hug and tell him everything was going to be ok. He endured much as a young god and so kept his heart to himself until Ruija came along. The parts of the story that were told from his point of view were all about his past and how he became who he is. I would have liked a bit more showing what he was thinking in the present, but I still really like him and enjoyed his story.
The Celestial Prince was a harder character to like. He is selfish and cruel, but could also be incredibly kind at times. In the second half of the story, he is a very different character that I liked much better than in the first half. I can’t say more than that without giving things away, but I wish his story had gone better.
The writing and world building were so well done that I felt totally immersed in this story set in ancient China. There are two parts to this story, the first taking place in the celestial realm and the second set on earth in China. Both settings were well done and really made me feel like I was right there with the characters. The themes of love, fate and sacrifices were well thought out and entwined into a lovely tale. The ending is bittersweet but totally fitting with the rest of the story
I’m not sure that I would call this a romantasy though. The romance is lovely, and evolved quite naturally between Keran and Ruij. But the romance was not really the main focus of the story. I felt that the themes of fate and sacrificing everything for those you love was far more important than the actual romance. Also the romance was far more subtle than the romantasies that I have been reading lately. I loved the romance because it was subtle and not constantly in the character’s thoughts.
This is a story that I am sure that I will revisit. It is beautiful and full of lovely thoughts and feelings. I am sure that I missed some things in this first reading that will be delightful on a reread. Fans of historical fantasy, especially ones with gods and goddesses will especially love this one.
