The Ways of Darkness — William G. Davis

The Shadow Universe Series includes six books: The Ways of Darkness, Running in the Shadows, Dawn of Darkness, Treasures of Darkness, Shadows of the Night, and When Darkness Falls. The story begins in the future, 2452. It is a fast-paced action-adventure space opera that extends twenty years. The story is proper for adults and teenagers. 

The books do not stand alone, leaving cliffhangers at the end, except for the last, which concludes the story. As the story evolves, many characters and stories tie together, each essential to the outcome.

Although set in a science fiction background, the saga is about people and family. As with most fantasy stories, heroes and villains do extreme things to achieve their goals. In addition, the characters experience romance, betrayal, unrequited love, loss, regret, and much more.

Futuristic science fiction allows inspiration and imagination to take us to places we usually do not visit in our daily lives and is often based on two opposing forces, good and evil, represented in this story as the High Lord and Night Lord. These two deities have fought since time began, and our universe has become the battleground. 

They choose champions to represent them within our realm; the High Lord calls Saiphs, and the Night Lord calls Skeans. The Night Lord aims to control the cosmos, placing him closer to the High Lord's dominion. To do so, a Skean must bring darkness, allowing the Shadow Universe to take hold, making them stronger.

The first book talks about a frozen alien planet called Akil on the other side of the Milky Way, where the dying sun forces them to live underground, and a regime on Earth that has bought half of the United States. 

The Akilians have developed the ability to open portals to distant worlds while searching for another planet. After finding Earth, they work together to save the Akilians from their dying sun and, in the process, set off a chain of events that create a villain, Imperial Majesty Abaddon, who hopes to plunge the galaxy into literal darkness.

As the Akilians and the Regime collaborate, they discover a species known as the Mar Novians, who also have portal technology, and they create a taskforce called Intransigent that discovers many habited worlds in the galaxy and tries to convince them to help defeat Abaddon and his army. 

Some unite with Intransigent, but will it be enough to stop Abaddon from conquering the galaxy?