Asinjin posted a two part question in the missing thread but I only remember the second half: Is it actually dark?
Yes, both literally and figuratively. The mood of the nation is dark, worse than Parker can remember it ever being since the end of the Wyvern Crusade. It is also the coldest summer in memory, human or otherwise. It snows in Messada starting only a month after the Day of Light and the skies are rarely free of clouds. Given the attack at the College and the High King's death people are often seen looking at the clouds nervously and a thunder clap that once would have gone unnoticed is likely to send people indoors. The nights are moonless and rumors of Chosen, Wugs in the sewers and strange spectral dire wolves stalking the wilderness are rampant in the streets and public houses.