Review - Dark Moon, Shallow Sea by David R. Slayton

Raef has lived on the streets for ten years, ever since the Knights of Hyperion destroyed the tower dedicated to the moon goddess Phoebe, where he grew up. He still has no idea why the priests ensured that he escaped while the knights murdered all of the others in the tower. Seth started training as a Knight of Hyperion after the destruction of Phoebe’s towers. Seth wields the fire of the sun god, but he doesn’t have control over it. That’s not the only reason the other knights shun him. They know what Seth really is. Raef and Seth’s paths are destined to cross. They should be enemies, but will what they share be enough to be friends instead?

“Dark Moon, Shallow Sea” is a dark fantasy mystery based on proto-Greek mythology of gods who embody the sun and moon, among other things. The emphasis is on the mystery. Raef and Seth don’t reveal their secrets easily, and there are things they don’t know about themselves. The two young men also turn out to be pawns in some great game between powerful people and the gods they serve. It’s hard for them to know who they can trust.

The narration alternates between Raef and Seth’s points of view. Raef is definitely a lovable rogue type, a bad boy with a heart of gold. We quickly learn that there’s more to Raef that it first appears, but there’s even more for him to discover over the course of the story. He’s definitely the underdog hero of the book.

Seth is a bit harder to like. He’s sympathetic but so full of self-doubt that it’s hard to fully empathize with him. It isn’t until very close to the end that we finally get some insight into the roots of Seth’s self-loathing. Like Raef, Seth is faced with new revelations about his origins as well as the machinations going on around him.

Although a lot happens over the course of the story, the mystery unravels very slowly. The revelations build bit by bit to uncover at least some of the truth about most of the characters. This is the start of a new series, although it reads almost as a stand-alone story. There are a few clues as to what the following installments might have in store for the two main characters.

“Dark Moon, Shallow Sea” is available from Amazon (commissionable link).