- Source: Review Copy
- Pages: 633
- Publication Date: November 30th 2020
- Genre: Fantasy, Dystopian
- My Rating: 4/5
I’m not even surprised by how much I enjoyed reading this book. I had high expectations for These Violent Nights as the author’s previous work, The Outlands Pentalogy had been one of my best reads of 2020. I wasn’t dissapointed in the least by this book.
These Violent Nights shows a cruel world where humans are hunted and tortured by beings called Suriia who have taken over the human world. Some humans search for Suriias, or in other words, some Suriia take ownership of humans as companions to protect them. This is what happens with Thistle and Thorn, two young girls who are humans and who decide to stay with Nithin, Thistle’s boyfriend, and his best friend, Kol who are Suriia. Thorn is reluctant to have anything to do with Suriia, having been attacked and tortured by them many times in her life, but she agrees to do so in the hopes of finding and killing Veryn, a Suriia who killed her and Thistle’s parents. However, that is not all that the book encompasses. The plot is very rich. This 600+ book takes the readers through a long journey with many events and ups and downs in the characters’ lives.
I was sucked into this book very quickly. The anticipation of a budding romance between Kol and Thorn kept me hooked, as well as the danger and mystery that surrounded the characters’ fates.
The focus was as much on the characters’ growth, especially Thorn, and their relationships as much as the plot. Fantasy books can be tricky in balancing world-building with characterization and this was done well in this book. There was a great mix of danger and action with emotional, funny, and everyday human moments. Through Thorn, the book shows what it is like to live your life in the shadow of immense trauma that you have faced, trauma that you feel you can never let go of. The world-building in this book was amazing. It was refreshing and not too complex.
A portion of this book is from Lucien’s perspective. Lucien is a Suriia and the world he lives in is the opposite of that of Thorn’s—humans rule over Suriias there. I didn’t expect the book to show the humanity and cruelty of both beings—the humans and the Suriias. I think it was clever of the author to do so, making a larger comment on what power can do to people regardless of who they are.
For such a long book, there aren’t many boring moments. So much happens throughout the length of the book and multiple characters are introduced. By the end, you feel like you went on a terrifying, thrilling, and emotional journey with the characters. The ending wasn’t as action-packed and thrilling as I expected it to be, but it was still satisfactory.
These Violent Nights by Rebecca Crunden is a well-written dystopian and fantasy stand-alone novel. If you’re looking for a book that’ll keep you engrossed for a while, I’d definitely recommend it.
