The Coming Dark

De: D.J. Molles

Narrado por: Scott Aiello

Trained from ten years old to deal violence to the violent, the Deathbringers take their oaths extremely seriously: Protect the weak, and foster the evolution of good.

All Liam Avione ever wanted was to be a Deathbringer. Almost twenty years old now, he’s approaching the last six months of the decade-long training program, hopeful for his future as a protector of the Universe.

One, slight problem: he’s got a genetic defect that he’s been keeping a secret. But as the training intensifies, so do his symptoms. Which are really hard to hide when they cause him to puke, pass out, and have a seizure in front of the training cadre.

Before he knows it, he is dismissed from the Deathbringers and sent back to live with the civilian “Lifebringers.” Struggling to fit in, or even find a job, Liam is relegated to working in a kitchen and repeatedly trying to convince himself, This is your life now. So when Liam gets a slim chance at redemption, he knows he has to take it, genetic defect be damned.

His second chance comes in the form of a Trial–an extremely rare occasion where Lifebringers are given an opportunity to test their mettle against Deathbringers in a seven-day contest. If Liam survives, he’ll get an opportunity to train as a Deathbringer again. The Trial is supposed to be non-lethal, but within hours of being dropped on an abandoned jungle planet, Liam and a handful of other volunteers start to find the terribly-mutilated bodies of their friends.

It becomes obvious that the Deathbringers aren’t the only things hunting them. An ancient evil is pushing its way through the fabric of space and time, intent on bringing death and destruction to the Universe. And the only thing standing in its way are some untrained Lifebringers, and a former almost-Deathbringer. And he’s feeling just a little bit pukey at the moment.

What could go wrong?

Everything. And it does.
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The Coming Dark is a fast-paced space marine sci-fi adventure of heroism, survival, and the fight to hold back a malevolent force invading reality.

©2025 D. J. Molles (P)2025 Audible, Inc.

One of the most gripping, hardest to put down novels I’ve listened to in a while.

The pacing, characters, and descriptions were all fantastic. The story was compelling. The narrators performance was superb and added to the experience. All around a great read. Can’t wait to pick up the next installment.

Can't fight destiny!

Great space, military, post-apocalypse coming off age story. only life doesn't turn out the way Liam plans. He finds himself forced out of the fighting unit he always thought he was destined to be a part of, cast into a life of blissful ignorance and away from everything he's been training for. As a second chance comes around he finds he's part of a deeper destiny that no one ever realized.
The story line has the right amount of twists and tension to keep you invested throughout the book. Scott does a fantastic job narrating. I especially love how he keeps character for each and can transition between them so seamlessly.
The book ends leaving you wanting more and I must imagine DJ Molles has something brewing for our deathbringer friends!

It’s not the same without Christian.

The story is a great continuation of the Breaking Gods universe. The Narrator did an excellent job but with Wimsby having so much more of a role in this story/series I truly missed Christian’s Wimsby

Lots of action!

I Loved the action and not be able to figure out what was coming next.

Engaging!!

I loved the story, the performance, the characters! All of it!! Can’t wait to listen to the next book.

Great new series

I really enjoyed this book. Among the best (perhaps THE best) military sci-fi books that I’ve read. The characters are complex, well-developed and interesting and the plot moves along nicely with plenty of action but also enough time spent on world building that it’s more than just a series of gun fights. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how this series plays out.

Incredible Four Hour Battle Scene

Where did this book come from?? It was amazing! I am a fan of Molles' work in the Lee Harden saga, so when I saw this title pop up, I thought "what's the harm?" I am thrilled that I followed my instinct. I don't do plot reviews other than to say that this sci-fi book, about two halves of a society who are opposites to each other, stopped feeling like a sci-fi book and became more of an intense war thriller. Yes, futuristic terms were used and the plot is set in space (mostly), but you get so lost in the story that it doesn't feel that way.

What was so great about the book is Molles' subverting expectations and his attitude that "no one is safe." Nothing is off the table as he plays this story out with wild surprises, heartbreaking losses, and nail-biting scenes. I am not kidding though when I entitled this review a four hour battle scene. And it doesn't get boring, it doesn't lose focus, and it doesn't lack for excitement. I can't think of any one point during the second half of the book where I said to myself "Enough already!" I greedily wanted more and more!! When I saw that the book was in its last hour, I was aggravated that it wouldn't go on longer. It really is that good.

There are lots of characters and lots of concepts to take in and learn, but Molles' writing style makes it extremely easy to assimilate both without ever losing touch with who was whom and what was what. I am eagerly awaiting my next credit in a few days so I can get the second book in the series.

The narrator was great too. I will admit that there was something in the beginning that I was concerned about (even though I can't articulate what it was), but by the third section, I was hooked. He easily flowed from one character to the next and within a few chapters, I could figure out who was speaking without the book telling me - his voice differentiations were really that good. He didn't stumble at any point in the narration and really "took me there" with the way he moved through the material. I look forward to hearing him as well in the next book.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book! I am grateful that I came across it by accident and hope that it portends more great listens in the future.

Absolutely Superb in every way a book can be superb!

I enjoy DJ’s books. Rather, I have enjoyed every book by DJ Molles I have read. This is the first Mil / Sci-Fi book by DJ I’ve read and by the title of my review you can correctly assume I absolutely enjoyed it. Of course with every book 📕 Vincent action I do get impatient with the first internal dialogue, but I realized that’s like literally in every single action book I’ve read or listened to. I also thought that all those books would have been a little shorter had they not included it, which is not to say I’m a proponent of it, being a veteran, I am more in the camp of, “Just kill them.” But I’m not an author, I sit on the other side of that equation, so I stick to saying what I like and what I don’t like and try to not pretend that I actually know better when I don’t. There are a lot of reviewers in the land of Audible who - at least by the content of their reviews consider themselves the worlds greatest author or at least the worlds greatest critic. I am neither. I’m just a guy who enjoys a well-written and well narrated book and that’s exactly what this is.

My first reaction after finishing this book was to hit my browser and search for “the coming dark by DJ molles book 2?” Unfortunately, I didn’t find any results, but this book is prime for a series.

I truly hope you enjoy it as thoroughly as I did. The book reads like a great deal of effort was put into it. It’s pretty obvious to me that DJ didn’t sit down and just throw a bunch of words together. The characters have depth, the characters evolve (some anyway) and the action is pretty damn good.

I hope that someone who follows DJ on social media (I don’t really do social media) will ask Mr. Molles to get hot if he hasn’t already on the 2nd, 3rd, etc books because this one will be quite an adventure.

Thanks for reading.

pretty good

over all the story was really good and well performed. fantastic plot and pretty original, there were some low points that I found myself drifting a bit but overall I can't complain. would recommend

Great story and lots of action.

Like many of DJ’s books this is Jane packed with action and great story telling plus character development. Highly recommend for fans of action and science-fiction