- Graphic Novels
- Ages 8–12
- Fantasy
Lightfall: The Dark Times
Book 3 of 4 in LightfallView the full series
The darkest and most emotionally layered Lightfall volume so far, with Irpa under threat and Bea and Cad forced into harder choices. Still suitable for middle-grade readers, but more intense than the opening volume.
- Best for8–12
- FormatGraphic
- Length256 pp
- Read aloud~2 hr
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Conversational
- Literary
Tone
- Adventurous
- Suspenseful
- Dark
- Thought provoking
- Heartwarming
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
The Lights have gone dark in Irpa, and the world Bea and Cad have been trying to save feels colder, stranger and more dangerous than ever. While their wider fellowship searches for safety, Bea and Cad travel with survivors toward the Citadel of Knowledge, hoping to uncover answers about the darkness spreading across their world. This third volume raises the emotional and narrative stakes, moving the series from bright quest fantasy into a more sombre survival-and-discovery mode. The artwork remains beautiful and readable, but the atmosphere is heavier: shadows, uncertainty and fear matter here. What keeps the book from becoming too bleak is the same emotional intelligence that defines the series, friendship, courage, empathy and the idea that being afraid does not make someone weak. Best for readers already invested in Irpa and ready for a more serious middle chapter.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 8–12
- Read aloud · 8–12
- Independent · 8–12
Prose load
Light
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Reluctant readers
Preview before sharing if a child is sensitive to: scary imagery, violence.
Bedtime suitability
2 / 5 · Better outside bedtime
Sensitive-child
1 / 5 · Tough fit
Graphic intensity
4 / 5 · Notable
Best for
- Amulet fans
- Fantasy graphic novels
- Darker middle grade
- Beautiful worldbuilding
- Emotionally intelligent adventure
Avoid if
- Has not read earlier lightfall
- Very sensitive to darkness
- Needs low peril
Particularly good for children who are…
- Anxiety and worry
- Low self esteem
- Nightmares or fears
- Making friends
In the classroom
How it works in school.
A gorgeous fantasy-adventure graphic-novel series — a reluctant-reader favourite with warmth about courage and worry.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific weight is the lights going out — Bea and Cad heading to the Citadel of Knowledge while Irpa darkens around them, the friendship and courage taking real strain. The Lightfall where the series stops being purely adventure and starts mattering more.
- Surviving danger
- Making a difference
- Adventure and freedom
- Friendship and belonging
Why parents love it
The Lightfall middle volume — darker tone, survival-and-discovery shape, heavier than the first two without losing the emotional centre. Best in sequence; the weight depends on the prior books. Beautiful as ever.
- Beautiful illustrations
- Great writing
- Conversation starter
In the series
Lightfall.
4 books · open the series →
About the author & illustrator
Tim Probert.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
- Bookshop.org ↗
- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
When you buy through the links above, we may earn a small commission — it never costs you more, and it never changes the books we choose. How we’re funded →