The Lightshy Crow

By John R. Raymond (The Darklight Group, 2025)

Genre: Dark Fantasy

Pages: 628 (print); 444 (Kindle)

Via: Author Request

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Blurb:

The Lightshy Crow is the first novel in The Scarab Cycle, a mythic fantasy set in a crumbling empire where prophecy has soured and the gods no longer speak.

At its center is Tomrin Watersipper, a marked boy hiding cursed scales beneath his shirt that brand him for death. Trapped in a backwater glassworks, Tomrin dreams only of obscurity. But when the wrong eyes take notice, he must choose between exposure and annihilation.

Tomrin’s not the only one with secrets. In the Empire of Corundum, monsters wear the masks of men—and the line between divine and demonic is written in blood, silence, and fire.

Though set in a fictional realm, The Lightshy Crow explores real-world questions of faith, identity, and moral power without preaching or pandering. Just good writing and a world that hums with buried truth.

While it has its moments, The Lightshy Crow wasn’t our cuppa. For one thing, it’s way too long. Clocking in at over 600 print pages and 440+ pages on Kindle, this dark literary fantasy is a heavy lift. We just don’t have that kind of lift. Especially since our limit for Kindle submissions is 300 pages. We also found the plot hard to follow and slow. Think dark as a light-less coal mine at midnight during a tornado. Or a snail stuck in a molasses factory.

It just didn’t grab us. Not long enough to hang around till the 12th of Never. One of us doesn’t have that kind of patience. (Hi, Mom.) Bailed out at about 100 pages. So we won’t be rating this book.

However, if you enjoy dark fantasy with lots of magic and impressive world-building skills coupled with a complicated plot that could give Middle Earth a run for its money, you might enjoy The Lightshy Crow.