What kind of monster only hunts by daylight? Richard Amos flips the usual zombie-apocalypse rule on its head in this audiobook: a virus called Dawn rises every morning at first light and kills any human it touches, which means survivors spend their nights relatively safe and their days in genuine danger. Two years into the outbreak, the fae narrator, referred to by reviewers as Orion, is stranded on Earth after what the synopsis calls a vacation gone wrong, protected from the virus by fae blood and getting by with only a virtual pet for company. Curse of Dawn is the eight-hour, one-minute opener to a post-apocalyptic MM fantasy romance series, and Amos states plainly upfront that this book is not a standalone.
The Review
The daylight-zombie inversion is a genuinely clever structural choice, and it shapes more than just atmosphere. It flips the usual survival-horror rhythm, where night is the threat and day offers relative safety, which forces different tactical decisions throughout: shelter has to hold through daylight hours specifically, travel becomes a nighttime activity, and the found-family pack dynamic around alpha werewolf Miko Reyes gets built around that same inverted schedule. Reviewers place the action in a wrecked, overrun London, adding a specific, grounded setting to what could otherwise have read as a generic ruined-city backdrop, and that specificity carries through the worldbuilding in ways that feel earned rather than decorative.
Orion's status as fae, rather than human, is a structural choice worth noting on its own terms too, distinct from the daylight-horror mechanic. A protagonist who is not native to Earth and did not choose to be stranded here gives the found-family arc a double layer: Orion has to adjust to an apocalypse that is not even his own world's crisis, on top of the ordinary disorientation of losing a home to catastrophe. That fish-out-of-water positioning, a visitor from elsewhere forced to build a new life inside someone else's disaster, is a less common variation on the genre than a purely human survivor narrative, and it gives Amos a natural, built-in reason for Orion's outsider perspective on both the virus and Miko's pack.
Will M. Watt's narration itself goes uncommented-on in the reviews here, but the vocal demand is worth naming clearly: a monster-romance dynamic where Miko needs to register as genuinely formidable, a warrior and pack leader, while also carrying real warmth and vulnerability as Orion's love interest develops trust in him. That is a real range to hold across eight hours, moodiness and menace on one end, gradual tenderness on the other, without letting either quality undercut the credibility of the pack's found-family dynamic that runs alongside the central romance for the length of the book.
The Best Parts of Curse of Dawn
One reviewer, comparing the book to Amos's other work, calls out the tension and tragedy running through it as consistent with what they expect from him. A second listener is candid about a genuine craft weakness: the dialogue reads as stilted and awkward in places, occasionally leaning on telling rather than showing, even as that same reviewer feels the plot and characters ultimately compensate for it. A third, a longtime reader who had been waiting for Amos's next series, calls the payoff worth the wait, praising the result as 'an absolute delight' after what they describe as a needed recharge period between projects.
Three hundred two ratings averaging 4.4 stars is a solid, consistent track record for a self-published or small-press MM fantasy romance opener, and it suggests the found-family and daylight-horror hooks are landing with the book's target audience specifically rather than performing well only in a narrow niche. The virtual pet detail, described in the synopsis as never needing its batteries changed, is a small but telling piece of worldbuilding: a wry, low-stakes comic touch dropped into an otherwise high-stakes survival premise, and it signals a book willing to let some genuine warmth and humor through the apocalyptic pressure.
Amos names found family directly as one of the book's core elements, alongside the daylight-horror mechanics and the central romance, and that framing matters for how the book is structured: Orion is not just falling for one werewolf but settling, however uneasily, into an entire pack Miko leads, described in the synopsis itself as his merry wolves. That gives the book a second relationship engine running alongside the central romance rather than treating the pack as pure background texture, which is a meaningful structural choice for a genre that can otherwise narrow its focus down to just the two central love interests and little else.
The Caveats
The honest dialogue weakness flagged above is worth taking seriously rather than glossing over, since audio narration can go either direction with stilted writing: a skilled narrator can smooth over some of the awkwardness with natural-sounding delivery and pacing, or flat line readings can make already-stiff exchanges land even more noticeably. Listeners sensitive to dialogue quality specifically, as opposed to plot momentum or worldbuilding, should weigh that caveat before committing to an eight-hour opener, particularly given that Amos himself has stated this launches a multi-book series rather than a self-contained story.
MM paranormal romance built around a full apocalypse premise, rather than a contained urban-fantasy setting with the outside world still mostly intact, is a less common combination than either half individually, and it is worth knowing that going in as a genre signal on its own. Most MM romance leans on contemporary or lightly fantastical settings, while most post-apocalyptic fiction stays firmly outside romance altogether; Amos is deliberately working the overlap between the two, which is part of what gives Curse of Dawn its specific identity within a crowded broader romance market rather than reading as either a standard zombie thriller or a standard paranormal romance with apocalyptic set dressing.
The Right Listener for Curse of Dawn
A taste for monster romance and found-family dynamics, plus a willingness to start a series rather than read a standalone, is really what this book asks of its ideal listener, especially anyone drawn to genuinely novel apocalypse mechanics rather than a straightforward zombie-horde retread. The daylight-hunting twist alone sets this apart from most entries in the crowded post-apocalyptic romance space, and readers already invested in Amos's other series, per the reviewer comparisons above, will recognize his signature mix of tension and found-family warmth here as well.
A complete story arc within a single audiobook, rather than commitment to an ongoing series, is not on offer here, since Amos is explicit that this is only the first installment. Anyone particularly sensitive to dialogue that occasionally tells rather than shows should also sample a preview before committing the full eight hours, even though multiple reviewers feel the plot, characters, and found-family warmth ultimately outweigh that specific weakness across the runtime.
- Narration: Will M. Watt is a newer name here, facing a real range challenge between a warrior alpha's menace and his romantic warmth.
- Themes: monster romance, found family, post-apocalyptic survival with a daylight-horror twist
- Mood: Tense and warm by turns, apocalyptic dread balanced against found-family comfort
- Verdict: A genuinely inventive MM fantasy romance opener let down slightly by stiff dialogue, best for readers ready to commit to a series.
Questions Listeners Ask
Can the Curse of Dawn audiobook be listened to as a standalone story?
No. Richard Amos states directly that this is the first book in a series, and the story is not designed to resolve on its own by the end of this eight-hour installment.
Why do the zombies in this audiobook only attack at dawn?
The virus driving the outbreak, called Dawn, rises with first light and kills any human it touches, flipping the usual survival-horror rhythm so daylight, not night, is when characters are most at risk.
Does the audiobook's narrator handle both the fae and werewolf leads convincingly?
Will M. Watt has no extensive prior track record in this catalog, so this is assessed on genre fit: the material demands real range between Miko's warrior-leader menace and his gradual romantic warmth.
