THE DARK GRIFFIN is the first book in the Fallen Moon trilogy, a fantasy tale that stars griffins instead of the usual dragons or unicorns, and the story definitely has a dark edge to it. Arren Cardockson, member of the despised race of Northerners, rose to a position of distinction when a griffin selected him. But he loses his griffin when he tries to capture a wild griffin. Thus begins his downward spiral as he loses his place in society and tries to evade those who want to eliminate him once and for all. His friends think he is suffering only from depression and don't believe the tale he tells of treachery.

Arren isn't the only outcast in Cymria. Darkheart, as the captured griffin is known, lives in a cage near the arena where wild griffins fight each other and devour human prisoners for the entertainment of an audience. The destinies of these two who are unwanted by their kinds are linked, but can they escape death long enough to find each other?

K.J. Taylor spins a complex tale in THE DARK GRIFFIN and, while some tropes exist such as Arren rising to a level unknown to his race, the story has enough unique elements to hold its own. Many tales pit good versus evil at their hearts, but this story has a lot of gray areas for many of its characters which make for unlikely heroes and good reading. In this work, griffins have nearly the intelligence of humans and advise and seem to rule them in many ways. They tend to pick the rich and popular noble class, too, and I'm curious to find out if there is a reason for this other than sharing a human case of greed. I look forward to reading books 2 and 3, The Griffin's Flight and The Griffin's War, to find out more about Arren and Darkheart.