Dark & Day 1

By: Jacob Israel Grey

Narrated by: Wayne Farrell

Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's Summary

Hatred and fear between the machine-power people of the Dark and the magic-wielding people of the Day have kept at the edge of war for centuries. The delicate balance is about to be lost when a young, sickly boy discovers a secret that sets the forces of Dark and Day racing to secure a devastating power that could control the sun itself! Join Jono Wyer as he is thrust into the center of the prophecy, politics, and prejudice that threaten to tear the world apart. Jono must learn to trust new strange friends and doubt what he was raised to believe if the world is going to survive truth that lurks below the fears of the other....

©2019 Jacob Israel Grey (P)2019 Jacob Israel Grey

A Well-crafted Adventure of Mecha and Magic

Dark & Day 1, written by Jacob Israel Grey is an engaging story marrying a number of genres together to make a story I had a hard time pushing pause on when life said I had to do other things. It's written at a level similar to the early Harry Potter novels (more on this later), where even though it could easily be enjoyed by children, adults will find a lot to enjoy here as well.

The story follows Jono, a sickly boy living in the twilight area of a world that is permanently locked in place. One half always facing the sun, the other always in the dark. The people of the two halves couldn't be more different. Those living in the dark evolved to enhance themselves and their lives with mechanical means. Those in the sun wield magic.

The two sides live in fear of the other side, and the time where the return of a mystical item returns means their way of life will come to an end. Our hero, Jono, finds the item and so kicks off a race to possibly the end of the world.

Throughout the story, you can feel influences from several popular references. A little Star Wars, a little of what I felt was Final Fantasy, certainly Harry Potter. The training academy could quite easily be set in the halls of Hogwarts... which I certainly don't mean as a bad thing. It's not a straight-up copy of the HP universe, but what feels more of a carefully crafted love note to it.

Narration by Wayne Farrell was spot on. No obvious errors or issues to pull me out of the immersion. His voices were distinct and easy enough to follow along with.

Long story short, this book rocked along quickly to the point I was quite surprised at how quickly the end of the book came. There are (at last check) 3 other books in the series, and it certainly had me wondering what direction the future books would take.

I was given this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. I have not let this gift affect nor influence my opinions of this audiobook and have left an honest review.

This book caught me by surprise!

I started listening to this book without any predisposition, both the author and the narrator were unknown to me and based on the little feedback I had come across I was somewhat afraid it might be a children’s book. Halfway thru the book I’m glad I gave it a shot! I read somewhere it was Harry Potter meets Star Wars, however personally I feel it’s closer to lord of the rings steampunk, most importantly I find the book very entertaining and I recommend it for new listeners.

Well written techno magic books are a treasure

I’ve been looking for techno magic books for a long time. I love a well thought out magic system and I love to see what a character can do when combining science and creativity with magic. This first book is everything I want in the genre and on top of that there is a body of outstanding art for it to really spark your imagination. If you’re worried that the book doesn’t have enough reviews yet don’t give it a second thought. This series is likely to become one of the most popular books in the genre, and it’s definitely worth listening to.

Great book

Great enjoyable book. Worth checking out if you enjoy mech and magic fantasy. Geared towards young adults but fun for adults too.

Harry Potter with Sci-Fi & Fantasy

This is a good story of Fantasy and Sci-Fi that reminds me a lot of Harry Potter, I just loved the Academy and the fun teachers. It was enjoyable. The Narration was enjoyable as well.

Note this title was provided free for review, however, the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Interesting new world with a lot of character

Not gonna lie, this is one of those books that confused me right off the bat with a lot of new terms/definitions/concepts. But, after a chapter or two, it settled in and it was a really good read. Normal light vs dark dynamic is uprooted in the third act with a good twist that sets up future books really well. I also like how the author treated the protagonist at the end of the book...cleverly left him much like he was before the climax through the use of a hero scapegoat. Overall, looking forward to more in the series!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Refreshing Story!

This is the kind of kid story that I would love my kids to listen to. This book give a wonderful description of a young boy who, in a way, lives in the slumps. But his live relies on machinery to take care of his body. He gets picked on at school. He loves books because they wisp him away from worries. But, he is also very smart. I could go on and on, but that would ruin the fun in the story. All I will say is that this is a story that reminds me of Harry Potter, with a tiny twist of Geoffrey Saign's Magical Beasts collection, and a pinch of Star Wars. Story was well written, and very much enjoyed it. I highly recommend this to any kid who loves an adventure and to immerse themselves into fantasy (adults too!).

Well done Jacom, and well done Wayne for the narration! Loved it!

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

A good, solid story

First, to get it out of the way, I was given this book at my request with the agreement I would leave a honest review.
that being said, I found Dark and Day a decent story that faithfully follows the hero quest formula. The writing is solid, and the narration very good. While anyone can enjoy this story, it is defiantly aimed for the young adult audience.
The only advice I would give the potential listener is that if you are suffering from Harry Potter burnout you may want to hold off on this story for a while. This IS NOT a rip off of that series, but since it follows the tried and true path of that formula, it can't help but have the same feel.
Overall this story is well worth the listen.

Imaginatively Magical

I heard about this book on a sub reddit I follow and am not at all disappointed I did. I purchased the kindle before the Audible. The audible version is AMAZING, the narrator brings this imaginatively magical story to life. The story itself is written so well, easy to follow, and captivating. What I appreciate most about this story is that there is enough in this 1st book to end there if you wish BUT there is so much world building opportunity as well. Thankfully there are 4 more books that I'm aware of so I can read more about Jono's adventures because I'm fully invested.

A great beginning to an epic fantasy

If you are looking for a new series to experience that is for both young ones and adults AND is an epic fantasy then I highly recommend this series. A meeting of high fantasy and mecha sci-fi this story has all the beginnings of a great coming of age saga.

The story follows a young sickly boy who comes from humble beginnings in a small village in the twilight area of a world that is unmoving with half of the planet set in day and half in night. He journeys through the both the lands of day where the people and creatures live with magic and the lands of night where intellect and science has pushed the evolutions of its people. Along the way he meets a variety of unique characters as he fights to stop a seemingly inevitable war between the two lands and even threats from the stars all while trying to make his way and find himself in this unique and challenging world.

The author does an excellent job crafting a beautiful world with unique characters and a relatable main character while not making the story too cliche or something that I have read before. While other reviews would compare this story to other well known book series and at times I would agree, this story is refreshing in its uniqueness and cleverness. I believe it would be a fun read for both the young and adults such as myself. It was both satisfying while also kept me wanting more. I cannot wait to see where the story leads in the up coming books.

The only criticism I would give this book is that it can be slow at times and at times the quality of the audio was a bit quiet in some places. But hang in there because I promise it is worth it in the end and the pros of the book far outweigh the cons.

But overall it is a wonderful book and a great start to what promises to be an awesome series and the narrator did a fantastic job. I cannot wait for more.

very good book

loved the book got a anime/avatar vibe from it. im not good at this but I recommend you give it a try

My 10yo daughter loved this :)

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book, free of charge, in exchange for an honest review.

Where normally I'd start my reviews with a personal insight into the subject matter and how it relates to me, this time I have to simply pass the floor to my 10 year old daughter who listened to this book and wrote this review…

When my Dad asked if I wanted to read this book, I wasn't sure. You see I love fantasy and have read lots of it including Dragonlance and many others but I've not read any with Magic and Machines and Scifi isn't something I particularly like. But the cover was cool and the main characters name was strange so I thought I'd give it a go.

The story is about a world that is split into two sides. On one side is eternal day and they use Magic to do everything and protect them and the other side, which always felt like the poorer side, live in constant night and their lives revolve around technology to with cybernetic and Hollows.
It is the Dark side where we find Jono, a young (although, older than me!) boy who is dying and needs machinery to heal him but to get this he has to be accepted into the Empresses army and early on this does happen and so he is slowly drawn into a world where the two 'nations' hate and fear each other for imagined slights.

I'm not going to spoil the story but it was really deep and not as Black and White (pardon the joke) as a lot of fantasy stories where there's a dark god or evil dragon and it was all very subtle but very exciting. I was really drawn into the characters and found the world really realistic and cleverly balanced and beautifully read with all the characters being easy to recognise even when the narrator was playing females.

For me, I'm not sure if I'll be going straight onto book 2 as it is really heavy and deep and I think I'd need to read something else between the parts but I do really want to continue as I really want to see everyone being happy again at the end.

Oh and thank you Jacob for the book, I loved it :)

A Land Split Between Night & Day

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

Being advertised as a mash of Star Wars and Harry Potter I genuinely didn't know what to expect going in.
In a world where the half the land is stuck in perpetual night, the other in perpetual day we follow a sickly young boy from the dark side of the world as he is admitted into Windom Academy, a sort of prestigious magic school like Hogwarts, so that he can get treatment for his illness. The book follows his life within and the characters he meets.
Overall it is styled, deliberately I'd say, like an early Harry Potter book. While it does tread familiar ground, being in a school setting, the book does just enough to separate itself and does something different that I will not spoil here. I do hope that it takes the HP route and becomes more mature as it goes on, allowing characters to grow and change as I'm usually not a huge fan of YA fiction.
The world itself is really interesting, with the dark side favouring technology and the light side favouring magic. I keep making parallels to HP but in the same way I got interested in the world outside of Hogwarts I am now interested in the world of Dark & Day and I'm eager to learn more about each side of the world.
While not present in the audiobook, I'd be doing a disservice if I didn't mention the terrific artwork for the series on its website. They really capture the style of the book and gave it an almost comic book feel as I could imagine the characters better after seeing the artwork.
The narration is great, Wayne Farrell does a great job and I'm looking forward to hearing his voice in the more recent books.
All in all, while I'm not usually a fan of YA books, I really enjoyed this and think it'd delight people of all ages.

Close to being amazing

This book ticked so many boxes and the blurb got me excited to start the book.

The world is half set in perpetual night. On the dark side of the world the races survive by using technology and cybernetics. The other side of the world set in light shuns technology and use magic. Both side mistrust each other and spread false propaganda about each of other. Magic verse technology; it sounded great.

This books is aimed more at YA with the main protagonist being pre-teen. He lives on the dark side of the world and is ill with poor lungs and heart. He has been studying all his life to do well in his school work and exams so he will be accepted into a military academy which will allow him to receive cybernetic enhancements to cure his illness. I got a bit of a ‘chosen one’ vibe when the MC gets involved in large scale plots and dangerous adventures before enrolling in the military academy.

I had some issues with the pacing of this book. Sometimes it would race through what seemed to be interesting plots or characters and other times it would go on a bit too much about something mundane. I would have liked a bit more if the story focused more on the studying at the military academy and the main characters learning to use their new abilities. There was some parts where I struggled to work out the difference between the technology and magic as they were pretty vague and interchangeable as they were not described in enough detail (more soft magic than hard magic systems).

The narrator did a great job with his vocals and brought the book to life.

Overall this was a good book but could have been so much better. Maybe the following book will expand on the world building and both the magics and technology will be expanded more.

[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]