Nightfall Review and Giveaway!

You know the drill–whispered tales of dark creatures that live in the forest and only come out at night. Only in this world, night lasts for 14 years…

Nightfall, a young adult novel blending horror and fantasy, is a joint effort written by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski, best known for their epic fantasy Dormia series. Nightfall comes out in just over two weeks, on September 22, but I managed to pick up a couple of Advanced Reader Copies at Book Expo America this year so I could give you a sneak peek of the harrowing horror that is headed your way. You can preorder the book now from Peter Kujawinski’s website or Amazon–OR you can ENTER A GIVEAWAY to win a FREE ADVANCED READER’S COPY by the end of this week! Read through to the bottom for instructions on how to enter the giveaway.

This novel tells the tale of an island in a mystical world where sunrise only comes every twenty-eight years. Fourteen-year-old twins, Marin and Kana, as well as their friend Line, were all born during the sunrise–meaning that they have never experienced night before.  However, they’ve heard the stories and they know the traditions: houses must be cleaned, supplies must be gathered, and everyone must be off the island and on a boat to the Desert Lands before the sun sets. Marin, however, feels that some of the traditions seem a little odd. The houses are not only cleaned, each household is given specific instructions about rearranging the furniture and bringing strange items out of storage. It’s almost as though they are preparing the houses to be inhabited by someone else…

Neither Marin, Kana, nor Line were particularly looking forward to sailing away to the Desert Lands for the next fourteen years, but remaining on the island through the Night is not an option, though none of the adults seem particularly keen to explain why. The teens get to find out for themselves, after a series of events leads to all three of them being left behind. Here, the tone of the story turns definitively toward horror. Suspense builds as Marin, Kana, and Line form hurried plans for survival while night closes in around them. Soon it becomes clear that they are no longer alone on the island–and their nocturnal neighbors don’t seem too happy about having uninvited guests.

While the first half of the novel is genuinely creepy, the second half feels more like simple fantasy, still with some scary and suspenseful moments. As the three teens search for a way off the island, they learn more about the race of creatures that inhabit it. They also learn about a dark secret they were never meant to know.

If you’re a fan of both horror and fantasy, this book will have you hiding under your covers, waiting for sunrise–which thankfully, will be only a few hours, rather than years, away. To win an ARC of Nightfall, enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below. The winner will be chosen next Monday, and will be announced on the site and contacted via email.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you didn’t win the giveaway, don’t worry! You can still buy a copy of Nightfall online using this Bookshop.org affiliate link and support both indie bookstores and The Gothic Library in the process.