Cruel Is the Light by Sophie Clark
on January 21, 2025
ISBN: 0593810724
Pages: 496
Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Format: Young Adult
Source: MSL Book Review
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Cruel is the Light by Sophie Clark

Selene, also known as the “Butcher of Rome,” is an exorcist working for the Vatican city in a VERY bloody battle against demons.  Jules, a talented Vatican soldier,  is an orphan with a mysterious background.  The two are forced to join together in an unusual alliance where Jules pretends to be Selene’s estranged fiance.  Together, they track down one of the most powerful demons wreaking havoc on the city, only to find out that not everything they have been taught to believe is true.  

This YA romantasy is advertised as an epic love story.  It has all tantalizing ingredients to make readers prepare to be amazed: war, forbidden love, religious turmoil, mysterious twists. Yet, it just doesn’t deliver.  The writing seems chaotic and it is very easy to lose track of what is happening.  The double point-of-view third person becomes tricky to follow.  The “dream” sequences come out of nowhere and the reader can’t determine if one is happening or not.  Constant backtracking is needed to keep things straight.  The pacing is all over.  There are ten pages of an index like handbook to introduce the reader to the world, the war, the characters, etc, only to have some of those characters killed off in the first three pages.  The amount of blood and gore is excessive to begin, and then the war fizzles out to attempt the romance plot line.  Of all the narrative structures, the romance is the most successful, but it’s still almost forced to the point of being false.  

Reviewed by Heidi Kopishke, Camden Hills Regional High School, Rockport, ME.