Review by Frank Plowright

The world of Irpa has only one area where darkness doesn’t reach. Known as the Light, it’s now extinguished. Primary characters Bea and Cad hope not only to restore the Light, but to bring sunlight to a greater area of Irpa. Unfortunately every new piece of information they learn seems to make that quest harder.

In common with so many continuing series aimed at a younger audience, Lightfall would benefit immensely from a couple of recap pages bringing readers up to speed. Tim Probert has created such a world of wonder and populated it with such appealing characters that surely it’s desirable to reach as many people as possible. However, any prospective new reader attracted by the beautiful cover art is going to be a long way into The Dark Times before they figure out what’s going on.

Of course, this won’t matter in the slightest to readers who’ve been waiting for the next instalment ever since they read Shadow of the Bird. Bea is attempting to learn some magic, but it’s coming hard, and she and Cad have decided that rather than accompanying most of their friends to a city, they’d be better off researching ancient scrolls. As has been the case before, Probert thoughtfully supplies a map at the start enabling readers to follow separate journeys.

Probert’s art is the immediate attraction of Lightfall, and there are plenty of wordless sequences enabling readers to properly appreciate it, but he’s thought the plot through as well. An example is providing an innovative reason for people not freezing due to the lack of light, and opening the door to many other possibilities.

Despite using many small panels per page, there’s no lack of detail, and each is fully rendered. The density means every volume of Lightfall covers a lot of ground, and The Dark Times lives up the name by every character suffering an emotional setback. There are only very brief respites from a constant chase, but by the end the cast are in a very different place from where they started and they’ve learned the true origins of their planet in a remarkable sequence. It contradicts everything folk on Irpa believe and offers some hope for the future, but that’s a story for next time.

Everything about Lightfall charms, and it’s good to see it continuing beyond the usual trilogy.