MOTH DARK

Six years ago, the first Darkbeast emerged and destroyed part of downtown Shanghai.

Today, 18-year-old Sascia, a member of the Umbra Program’s team of young scientists who are researching the Dark, is the expert on Darkmoths, who appear only for her. During Sascia’s side hustle—conducting tours of the Maw, a Dark portal in Manhattan—she inadvertently lets through the first known Dark humanoid, a genderfluid elf named Nugau. Nugau tries to kill Sascia in retaliation for an event that has yet to occur in Sascia’s timeline. The two meet twice more at different times, the last meeting revealing a romance in Nugau’s past that’s yet to come for Sascia. Their timelines converge when Sascia enters the elves’ temporary world, a Dark-ravaged section of the Manhattan subway, and begins to realize why the Darkmoths (considered to be gods by the elves) have opened a rift between the Dark and Earth. The book’s resolution deftly addresses timely topics, such as war profiteering, climate change, and cycles of violence. The supporting characters, both elves and Sascia’s family members and friends at the Umbra, are well developed, but the book’s breakout character is Mooch, the lovable ancient leader of the Darkmoths, so named by Sascia because of its penchant for stealing her food. Sascia is Greek American, and the supporting cast brings additional ethnic diversity. In this world, queer identities are accepted without question.

An engaging urban fantasy with an important message.