Book Review - Cruel Is The Light by Sophie Clark

Cruel is the Light is a debut Young Adult Romantasy by Sophie Clark. The shop was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy from the publishers Penguin Random House. It comes out in hardback on the 23rd of January 2025 and I can not wait for you all to be able to get your hands on this book. This is one of those books that’ll keep you up until 2am reading it.

Synopsis:

They say love conquers all . . .
But can love win in a war between demons and exorcists? Or will it just tear them all apart . . .

A brutal war between demons and humanity has raged across Europe for over a century. At its heart are two elite soldiers: Selene Alleva, a powerful exorcists trained at the prestigious Vatican Academy, and foot soldier, Jules Lacroix, unrivalled in battle.
When their paths cross, despite initial distrust – then unwelcome attraction – Jules and Selene discover a terrible secret at the heart of the holy Vatican City . . .

Soon Jules is forced to question everything he’s ever known – including himself. And Selene, unable to ignore her growing feelings for Jules, must make an impossible choice between love and duty.

Review:

5/5 Stars

This book is described as being a cross between Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin and Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. Whilst I haven’t read Serpent & Dove and can’t say whether that part is true or not, I definitely agree with it feeling like Empire of the Vampire but with demons and the grittiness at certain points in the story, it also has huge Divine Rivals energy, captivating me in the exact same way. Words will not do justice to explain it, so you’ll just have to trust me and read it yourself to find out what I mean.

I knew within the first 100 pages of this book that I was going to love every second of it, it was a whirlwind of action and intrigue from both our main characters that kept me hooked and wanting to read more, the chapters are fairly short so it was easy to just keep reading “one” more chapter. This book is extremely addictive like Fourth Wing and is just as easy to read, I finished it in about a day and half and other than the overuse of the word ‘beautiful’ I adored every second. There are some events that were probably quite predictable but when I was reading I found I wasn’t focused on figuring out what was going to happen, I stayed completely in the moment of the page I was on.

So if you’re looking for you’re next romantasy fix, this is definitely one you should pick up.