Book Title: By Darkness Hid (Book 1 of Blood Of Kings series) by Jill WilliamsonFantasy | Christian Lit | Series Book 1
First Line: Achan stumbled through the darkness toward the barn.
By Darkness Hid is a fantastic story involving hidden identities, political agendas with a hint of mysticism, and experiencing heartaches and headaches. There are actually two main characters who do not meet each other immediately (except for a random telepathic encounter, but a face-to-face encounter occurs much later in the story). Achan Cham has never known a life beyond that of a stray – that is, lowest of the low – until a knight decides quite randomly (so it seems) to make him a squire despite his undesirable social ranking. Suddenly Achan gets torn between his servant chores and his sudden rise in ranks as someone who might be worty of notice. Vrell Sparrow, on the other hand, is a young noble lady in guise as a stray boy to avoid an unwelcome marriage to Prince Gidon. She endures the stigma of being a stray, but longs to return home someday and live out a happy life among her family.
Both share the ability to bloodvoice, which seems like a fancy way of describing telepathy, more or less. Not everyone can do it, but those who do may communicate with each other individually or globally. They can also read other ungifted minds and, if they are really talented, persuade people to do their bidding. Vrell grew up with this gift, although she still has a long way to go before mastering her bloodvoicing. However, Achan had initially believed bloodvoicing to be a thing of myth until he started hearing other voices conversing inside his head.
The world that Jill Williamson has created has great potential to becoming unforgettable, but I sometimes felt overwhelmed with all the new and necessary details and names that became entangled as I read on. I too shared Achan’s confusion when he realized that the voices in his head were actually other peoples’ thoughts, though sometimes the voice sounded more God-like than human. As the story progressed, the momentum started to build and I became engrossed with how everything came together with Achan and Vrell’s meeting and ended with a Big & Unexpected Reveal about Achan’s true identity.
In short, By Darkness Hid set up the stage, but I hope that its sequel To Darkness Fled fully dives into the world that Achan and Vrell live in and fleshes out all the politics and the characters to their fullest potential.
My major disappointment is the way By Darkness Hid ended: A giant cliffhanger that literally has you stop in your tracks just when everything was starting to get even more interesting. Thank goodness the sequel was just released this month, or else I’d be even more upset!
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