Rating: 4.5🌈

A Star So Dark and Peculiar , the first in the Tears from the Sky series by Cyan Crowe, is also a first novel by the author for me. I’m all about storytelling that involves multiple types of shifters, mating bonds, paranormal species , and exploring the mythology that will build on their past in the series arc.

Crowe is giving the reader all that and more here. The series is dark fiction and characters that feel engaging and real are often treated as expendable, meeting their True Death unexpectedly. One at least I wasn’t prepared for. But it’s in keeping with the characterizations and relationship dynamics Crowe is developing.

Cyan Crowe does several things that are notable, most fantastic and one not so great.

First is the fact that our introduction into the world is a confusing one. That window into the past with the Crown Lords and Oracle didn’t work, at least for me. I felt that any information gleaned from those scenes could have been imparted in other ways throughout the storyline. In fact the entire book only really came together one we got into the present day.

That’s where everything starts to gel. The characters are strong, exceedingly well written, and while the reader doesn’t yet have a solid understanding of the world building, it’s parts are added as the characters interact and the narrative becomes more complex to give a larger perspective on the mystery and universe surrounding them.

It’s a brutal world overlaid with an air of civility, animalistic with a skin of humanity. Cell phone technology with fang and claw death in tandem. The author realistically portrays a divided paranormal society, literally separated by fortified walls and gates, each ruled by a different species with a similar structure and name. The immortal Crown Lion, Crown Wolf, and Crown Gryfalcon, each at the head of their respective species, then they have their Blades of the Crown. A unknown person who is close to the Crown, carries out their orders/duties as they see fit, an assassin if need be. The Blades are old and said to have some of the immortal blood in them.

This is just part of the intriguing mystery and information that the reader gathers from the narrative as we meet Gage Declan, Alpha Wolf of the City (wolf territory although other species live there). He’s considered young for the job position he’s holding but powerful in his role to easily manage his team. Gage’s character and history is a complex one, and becomes even stronger and fascinating as the book progresses. He starts off strong but the author builds on layer after layer, giving Gage remarkable depth and high intelligence while not diminishing his raw brutality .

To balance such a compelling being the author had to craft an equally complicated, magnetic personality. Crowe gives us Alpha Ethan Odin Vinci, new Alpha Lion of the Fort (Lion shifter section with other species residing). But Ethan is ancient, mysterious, and perhaps more. So they begin at a combative level to sort out a mystery plaguing both their sections and separate species.

Additionally, same sex relationships or activities are illegal and considered unnatural by law and the cultures. So events that occur are fundamentally shocking to both.

This is a great element and the way it’s handled on both sides makes sense for the two men involved from both personal and political perspectives. This is a core sea change that can, given both Alphas status and power, fundamentally change society.

Given this fact and the type of being each person is, Crowe stays true to the heart of the narrative and world the author is still rolling out in showing the reader the complex, often contradictory, intense, sometimes feral or savage behavior that resides within them, often after seemingly being pleasantly civil.

This is exciting stuff. We have a whole vampire element here that’s probably not what it appears to be. Right now they are the very big bad though.

Plus there’s things like the TEARs, a fatal illness no one knows how or why it occurs but that there’s no cure or antidote. The scenes involving people in the final stages are moving and heartbreaking.

Crowe has also assembled an excellent cast of characters surrounding the main personalities, and that seems to be expanding as well to meet the needs of the revelations of the storylines. The plot lines, many that they are, flow so fluidly through the story, picking up speed as it arrives at the main climatic battle and the jumping off point towards the next book.

Which honestly can’t come soon enough.

Except for that stumbled start, A Star So Dark and Peculiar (Tears from the Sky Book 1) by Cyan Crowe is a fantastic read. It’s exciting, full of new multidimensional characters, and imaginative storytelling. I can’t wait for it to continue.

I’m highly recommending it for all lovers of paranormal fiction and dark romance.

Tears from the Sky:

◦ A Star So Dark and Peculiar #1

Buy Link:

A Star So Dark and Peculiar (Tears from the Sky Book 1)by Cyan CroweBook 1 of 1: Tears from the Sky

Blurb:

It’s time to embrace the night and show the true might of the stars so bright…

My name is Gage Odysseus Declan.

You could say I’m a complicated man with uncomplicated needs. I’m Alpha Wolf for the City, charged with protecting my kind. I enjoy law and order, sexy times at Circus, and being left alone.

Step too close, and I’ll cut you down.

But I’ve stumbled upon a kitty cat that smells like a raging storm, a dark and peculiar chaos that I want to dominate and cuddle.

His name is Ethan Odin Vinci.

I suspect he’s the Blade to Crown Lion. The cat lives in the Castle, is crazier than anyone I’ve ever met, and is way too devious for that vain head of his.

And he’s just as alpha as me.

That’s…a problem.

The Lady Moons connected two men together, an utter blindsiding Bond. This has never happened before—it’s not our way.

Yet here I am. Here he is.

Here we are under the sky and the stars and the night, circling each other like we’re moonslit prey…

While bloodthirsty vampires take root in the City, and our people continue to die from TEARS.

But I’ve got this under control.

I am that good.

Get ready to twinkle twinkle, bitches.

The night is going to shine.

*This novel is approx. 150,000 words. This world does not contain MPreg.

*TW: Violence.