Lightfall

Crocker’s intricate debut explores the politics and power struggles in a stratified vampire city. Sam Ingle is a Worn, one of the lowest caste of vampires who are afforded only the worst blood. In her job as a palace maid, she learns that the youngest son of First Lord Azzuri has been found dead outside the city walls, killed by the sinister Grays, who all vampires have been taught to fear. Sam hopes to rise in station by investigating the murder, a search which leads her to the Leeches, a group of women spies who use their menial jobs within the halls of power to gather blackmail material for the betterment of all Worns. Working with the Queen Leech; her guard, an infamous wolf-shifter and assassin; and two mages who arrived in the city also hoping to investigate the murder, Sam discovers that there was more to the young Azzuri’s death than meets the eye. But the more they uncover of what turns out to be a vast conspiracy, the more their own lives are in danger. The worldbuilding is classic paranormal fantasy, but the many players and complex politics lend this an epic fantasy feel. Crocker shows plenty of promise. (Jan.)