The Lies that Summon the Night(Songs for the Sinless #1)
Publication
Date: February 3, 2026Hardcover, 320 pages, Delacorte Press
Genres: Adult, Romantasy
Lies, beauty, and seduction mingle in the first book of an enthralling romantasy series where making art is considered a sin, and the shadows born from it aren't the only danger to the creators—from the bestselling author of Curse of the Wolf King.
From the art of liars, the monsters came…
Ever since art gave life to bloodthirsty shadows, creative works have been forbidden and the talented creators sacrificed to the Sinless—the immortal royals who feast on human blood in return for their protection.
Inana’s secret storytelling nearly got her killed once, and she’ll be damned if she’s ever caught again. With a bounty on her head, she keeps to the city’s dark underbelly where she earns a meager living from thrill-seeking patrons desperate to hear her illicit fiction. Until Dominic, a Shadowbane, catches one of her performances. . .
Dominic is a half-Sinless monster hunter as fearsome as his prey. But to complete his hunt, he needs an artist to summon the shadows . . . he needs Inana. Dominic delivers an ultimatum: serve him or he’ll claim her bounty. When survival is all Inana has left, the choice is clear. At least until she can betray him and leave him for dead.
As their tense alliance leads them into the heart of danger, dark secrets unravel—about each other, their world, and the threats they face. But the greatest risk of all is the desire growing between them. There’s something more sinful than lust at play, and it could bring the world to its knees.
My Review
The Witcher with a "shadow daddy" vampire. That's how I think The Lies that Summon the Night should be advertised. So, if you prefer your fictional men to have auras like Desmond Flynn from Laura Thalassa's The Bargainer series, the bat boys from ACOTAR, or even Nyktos from the Flesh and Fire series, then this one might just be for you.
Dominic, the male love interest and second POV character, really has Henry Cavill as Geralt energy, though his hair isn't silver, sadly. He does have dark hair, though, for those of you who prefer brunettes. Dominic is sort of gruff and rough-around-the-edges with a nice chip on his shoulder and plans to burn it all to the ground while he hunts shadow monsters for a living and drinks vials of blood. The female main character, Inana, is a storyteller in a world where storytelling and art are forbidden, since art attracts the shadow creatures called Shades. Her character is the average romantasy main character, but she has a secret that keeps you intrigued throughout. She also has some intriguing interactions with the Shades and some unique circumstances that kept me curiously flipping pages.
The Lies that Summon the Night is a fairly short book. It's just over 300 pages, which is rare for a romantasy these days. And, although it's on the shorter side, I think it told a complete story ARC, leaving a decent bit of potential chaos for what's going to happen in book two. There's no major cliffhanger, however, so readers don't have to worry about a crazy cutoff. But the entire plot of Lies is based around going village to village to fight these shadow monsters. Dominic and his sidekick, Calvin (cough, non-musical Jaskier, cough), and the three Summoners Dominic needs to draw Shades out are all on this road trip. Inana joins him to get away from a Sinless, which is basically a royal vampire. It's all quite complicated when you try to explain it, but once I stopped trying to connect the dots and just went with the flow, it was easier to understand the world-building.
All in all, I would definitely recommend this to my fellow romantasy readers. It's quick, fun, and has some decent tension between the two main characters. And while I'm still adamant The Witcher is the main vibe comparison for the story, the atmosphere and concepts do feel similar to books like The Knight and the Moth, From Blood and Ash, The Serpent and the Wings of Night, and Shield of Sparrows. It's a good amalgamation of the more hyped romantasy titles with popular tropes like shadow magic, sexy vampires, monster fighting, and secret powers.
*Note: I received a copy of this book to review from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affected my opinion/review.
