Book Review: Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft

by The Book Pup on October 10, 2025

Blurb for the book (on Goodreads):

He saw the darkness in her magic. She saw the magic in his darkness.

Wren Southerland's reckless use of magic has cost her everything: she's been dismissed from the Queen's Guard and separated from her best friend--the girl she loves. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate, Colwick Hall, to cure his servant from a mysterious illness, she seizes her chance to redeem herself.

The mansion is crumbling, icy winds haunt the caved-in halls, and her eccentric host forbids her from leaving her room after dark. Worse, Wren's patient isn't a servant at all but Hal Cavendish, the infamous Reaper of Vesria and her kingdom's sworn enemy. Hal also came to Colwick Hall for redemption, but the secrets in the estate may lead to both of their deaths.

With sinister forces at work, Wren and Hal realize they'll have to join together if they have any hope of saving their kingdoms. But as Wren circles closer to the nefarious truth behind Hal's illness, they realize they have no escape from the monsters within the mansion. All they have is each other, and a startling desire that could be their downfall.


Love makes monsters of us all 

My Summary:

Wren Southerland is a healer whose healing magic use has cost her everything - her position in the Queen's Guard and separation from Una, her best friend and the girl she loves. When a mysterious lord summons her to his remote estate to heal his servant, she sees it as her chance at redemption.

But nothing is as it seems at Colwick Hall. Her patient turns out to be Hal Cavendish, the infamous Reaper of Vesria - her kingdom's most feared enemy soldier. Now Wren must choose between her loyalty to her country and her healer's oath to save any life she can.

   Trapped in a crumbling gothic mansion during a snowstorm, Wren discovers there are darker forces at play. As she tends to Hal's mysterious illness, she begins to see past the enemy she was taught to hate and glimpses the person beneath the legend.

Perfect for readers who love gothic atmospheres, enemies-to-lovers romance, and morally complex characters navigating impossible choices.

My Review (Non-Spoiler)

Content warning: Before I start this review, I need to place a content warning for this book. There are some surgical/medical scenes in the book that might make squeamish readers uncomfortable. I'm not particularly sensitive to that content, but definitely something to keep in mind!

THIS IS MY NEW OCTOBER OBSESSION AND I'M NOT SORRY 🎃

Alright, people, I picked this up looking for the perfect spooky season read, and Allison Saft absolutely DELIVERED. This book hit every single note I wanted: gothic mansion vibes, war-torn fantasy world, morally complex characters, and a romance that completely blindsided me in the best way possible.

Wren is such a compelling protagonist - she's a healer caught between her compassionate nature and her duty as a soldier. Let's be honest here, there are so. Many. Stories out there. So little stories talk about healers and doctors perspective in the YA romantasy genre. I haven't read anything like this book, but I absolutely, 100%, LOVED it. 

And Hal? The infamous "Reaper of Vesria" who turns out to be so much more than the monster everyone believes him to be? Chef's kiss is an understatement. The enemies-to-lovers development caught me off guard. It was unexpected and, well, PERFECTION. I went in expecting to hate him and ended up completely invested in his story.

The gothic atmosphere and the pacing kept me absolutely glued to the pages, and the way the author weaves together the personal stakes with the larger war conflict is masterful.

Perfect for: Fans of gothic YA fantasy, enemies-to-lovers romance, morally complex characters, and atmospheric spooky reads

5/5 pawprints 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

You can find the book on Goodreads here!

Content warnings (I know I already mentioned this but just in case you missed it): This book contains violence, war themes, medical/surgical scenes, deaths of a side characters.

P.S. this book has a happy (?) ending. The reason for the '?' in the previous sentence is because some characters die in the book, but overall all the main characters live (YAYYY), and there are no loose ends or cliffhangers at the end of the book (PHEW). 

Cheers, and happy reading!

The Book Pup