Dark Rise
Ratings78
Average rating4.2
This is when a chosen one is a smart decision-maker and gets things done. I didn't know I'd love this book and I'm glad I picked it up!
Edit - :)
I just love the names in this book– like, Simon, Will, and James. It's cute huhuh what a warm good time. I want to start book 2 now
I don't often re-read books and I seldom even want to do so. C.S. Pacat's Dark Rise is a beautiful exception. I loved it when I first read it and I love it still.
The book's not perfect by any means. Personally, I find the most to dislike in some of the generic and uninspired writing especially when it comes to titles.
I cannot return when I am called to fight So I will have a child.
3.5
Took some turns I didn't expect and am not sure if I liked them, but I enjoyed reading this!
once again I have no idea where to start.
The way that in the start it was just so good/evil type vibe. Like good fighting evil. Somwhere along the line it shifted and just ye. I am not a super fan of the moral greyness tho. I just generally do not really like moral grey for some reason. Please dont kill me for that opinion.
The main cacarther was a... struggel for me in the start. I just did not like Will, I dont really know why. BUt the more I read the more I just wormed up to him. He is just generaly so.... thinky? He does not really jump into actions.
A caracther that I just ... I am protective with my life. IS VIOLET. I WILL MURDER WHOEVER HURTS HER. I just like her. There is also so much depth in some of these caracthers.
This book is defently not all good for me. I started loosing intrest sometimes. Like the entire middel just feels like a long lag. Just draggng out in things and details I just found no intrest in. BUT overall it was just so good. like te switch from Ok, it is good to just suddenly being GIVE ME A NEW ONE. Was kinda quick in the ending there. Like YES I like.
Strong story, with a good structure, interesting characters and plot twists. The bond between Will and Katherine was built too quickly, so it didn't have much weight. The ending didn't feel so much as an open ending, more like it was cut short. I will definitely read part 2.
the only other work of the author's i'd read was the Fence comics which i liked but i was still nervous going into Dark Rise. but this was so fast-paced, not a moment or scene was wasted. the first 40% or so is pretty cliche in terms of light vs. dark and a chosen one destined to save the world, but it was unique enough in its world building and characters that i was still very interested. but once it passed that mark, the story completely came into its own. i had various predictions that i was so sure were right, only for me to be completely surprised by multiple plot twists, character decisions, and reveals. the tension i felt during some of the discussions in here was so intense, i just kept rereading certain interactions bc of how excited yet anxious they made me feel. there were also some character arcs that i didn't originally see myself getting attached to but definitely did, which resulted in a number of characters being surprise favorites for me. i absolutely adored this.
I'm not messing with anyone's balls when I say that starting this book is the best decision I've ever made. To be honest, it was difficult to digest at the beginning, but I told myself, “Let me keep reading.” piecing everything together was simply amazing!!! I'm completely in love with the world building?? CHEF'S KISSES !! +
contains spoilers
the training arc/stewards is where shit had me at the edge of my seat.
I was so shocked, as if i was on a horse and it came to a sudden halt whoa! slow down Valdithar
Had to force myself not to stay up late finishing this book. Wanted to soak in everything, make it last in this puny wild brain of mines.
Okay but the ending y'all... I YELLED !! Like... I saw it coming but I didn't?! I was scratching the ceiling but then it damn well crashed down on my ass??? BRUHHH
James & Will
Coup de cœur
Le début de cette lecture n'a pas été des plus captivantes, et pourtant je garderai un très bon souvenir de ce livre.
Plusieurs plot twists complètement inattendus pimentent le livre, je suis resté bouché bée à la fin du roman lorsqu'il s'agissait de recoller enfin les morceaux entre eux.
Ce livre est tout sauf plat, la psychologie des persos est plus profonde qu'elle n'y parait, tout n'est pas tout blanc ou noir.
Petite touche queer qui n'est pas pour me déplaire.
Petit + pour l'édition hard back avec très beau jaspage.
Format read: HardcoverTags: fantasy, lgbt (m/m, bi), found family, adventure, magic, LondonOwn a copy: yesReread likelihood: 8/10Summary:Will Kempen is an ordinary dockyard boy who fills his days with hard manual labour. However, he holds a secret close to his heart: he is on the run from shadowy figures who wish him dead by all means. Will is used to hiding his identity by changing jobs and cities regularly, until one night the men who murdered his mother find him, and the hunt begins anew. Will finds himself captured, then saved by a strange girl with inhuman strength and a knightly young man straight out of a storybook. With their help, Will will learn about his destiny and finally find out why these other men are so bent on capturing him, dead or alive.Review:Look, I read this immediately after devouring Pacat's [b:Captive Prince 9305362 Captive Prince (Captive Prince, #1) C.S. Pacat https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1356028113l/9305362.SY75.jpg 14188292] trilogy and boy, did I ever devour this story too. Immediately, I could see parallels between the characters of Captive Prince and Dark Rise, but that didn't belay my enjoyment. In fact, I felt already familiar with Pacat's style, which made this book very easy to get into.I can't say that I was remotely surprised by the twist. To me, the conclusion of this first book was as clear as day from the first few chapters but, again, this somehow did not damage my enjoyment of the story. I grew attached to some of the characters more than others, especially Justice, but they all had very distinct voices and personalities that successfully made them stand out and be different from one another. I loved the magic system in this story, and the legends/myths were well presented and made sense. Worldbuilding is never an easy task, but Pacat did a good job here of creating an alternate 1800s London filled with magic and populated by an ancient sacred order.I'm looking forward to book 2 (whenever that might be) and, in the meantime, I'll hold onto my predictions for the next installment.
On the one hand, it wasn't a bad book, and I do enjoy Pacat's writing. On the other hand, it was completely forgettable, I can't recall almost anything that happened in it, and there's no reason for me to continue with the series. Cool cover, though.
לספר יש בדיוק 3 סצינות מעניינות, והן כולן עם ג'יימס, שנקלע לסיטואציה בטעות ועדיין מחפש את דרכו חזרה ל-captive prince
3.5 stars
I enjoyed this. I just wanted more magic and darkness. I know it's YA, but I felt like it was geared towards really young readers. That being said, I would still read more because I liked the writing style. I really liked the narrator.
While I ultimately really enjoyed this book, it was a little over-stuffed with Lord of the Rings-esque lore (that seemingly ends up being completely pointless) and some very trope-y insta-friendships (love?) that didn't really work for me. The last 100 or so pages of this is what really makes it, with twists and punches one after another.
Aside from the obvious LOtR influence, it's interesting that it takes place in late 1800's London but where reincarnation is key to unlocking ancient magics. Will has been on the run his whole life and watched his entire family murdered one after the other. His only way to survive is to keep the promise he made his dying mother and to keep running. Unfortunately, he's captured anyway but learns his true purpose during an unexpected rescue. He, along with his new friend and sidekick Violet, are taken to another world where ancient lore is the way of life and collecting artifacts the key to survival. Will, at only 16, seems to be the smartest in the room and figures a few things out throughout the book that leads to an ultimate betrayal and a world-ending awakening.
If you can get past the majority of the book, I think it's a good payoff and will make a hell of a series, especially if you secretly rooted for Saruman's armies.
CW: torture, use of racial slurs
More of a 4.5 but I'm rounding up.
I have read every single book that Pacat has written and loved all of them dearly. So when I first saw the announcement of this book, I immediately added it to my tbr without even reading the premise. Getting rejected for an advance copy also didn't bother because I knew I was gonna buy it anyway and this audiobook was quite fun.
I still didn't bother to read the book summary even when I preordered the audio or before I started reading because I trust the author so much to give me an interesting story, and she did it. The writing is captivating right from the prologue, setting the tone for what kind of story this is gonna be. It's a historical fantasy, which is not typically a subgenre I'm fond of but the author does a great job balancing the historical and fantasy elements. I especially loved the world building here - with its old, dark and lost magical past, a history between the Stewards and the Lions, the descendants and reincarnations of the heroes and villains of the past coming to a head again - it was super fun to get lost in this world and try to figure out what was gonna happen next. The pacing is perfect, the plotting marvelously done to give us enough clues to maybe guess what might happen but also have lots of surprises in store for us which thrilled me, and prose which is beautiful in it's simplicity and emotional heft.
Will seems like a just a young man who is struggling to survive after having lost his mother and home in such violent circumstances, but as the story goes on we realize he is so much more. A contemplative and clever person, he doesn't speak much but is always thinking and knows the right words to speak at the right time and is quite good at convincing people. I always had a feeling that he was figuring something out in his head but we aren't privy to his thoughts and it was amazing to see what all he had pieced together towards the end.
Violet is a great companion for Will. She meets him by accident when she is trying to take steps to achieve her goal, and some revelations later she finds the trajectory of life changing completely. Hers is a fight against her own destiny - deciding that she is not going to go the way the people of her bloodline are expected to go and carve a path for herself, defending the Light in the advent of darkness. She is inherently good and trusting and extremely loyal, ready to fight and sacrifice herself to protect those who depend on her. I'm so in love with her !!!
This book also has a great cast of side characters. Justice is a another brave and loyal Steward who takes his duty to heart and will do anything to save the world. Cyprian is almost the same but circumstances force him to change his perspective of the world and people outside of his circle, but he never loses his loyalty and sense of duty. Katherine has a smaller presence but she is intriguing and after everything that happened to her, changing her life completely, I'm interested to see what she does next.
But the most fascinating among them all was James. The book starts off with him torturing someone and we gradually get to know that he is on the bad guy's side. But he is very charming and has a magnetism about him that attracts us towards him, just like Will, and we try hard to see beneath the surface, hoping that he is so much more than just the reborn general of the Dark King.
In the end, I had so much fun reading this book just as I expected. It has fantastic lore and world building, a seamless blending of the old and new worlds, multifaceted characters who will make you love them instantly, and a plot that'll you engaged throughout, delivering some unexpected twists towards the end. This excellent book is perfectly supported by the impressive performance of Christian Coulson, who brings his natural charm and wit to the narration. Definitely an unmissable book for every YA fantasy lover, and if you are a Pacat fan like me, I'm sure I don't even have to recommend it to you.
100% worth the read. No questions asked. If you likes the dark nature of C.S. Pacat's Captive Prince trilogy but felt that you wanted the diver deeper in the world itself, then this book is for you. Everything from the magic system to our two protagonists to the mysterious battle between good and evil is so well done and absolutely drew me in from the first page. I will definitely be pre-ordering the rest of this series the MOMENT they are announced because I'm simply HOOKED
5 stars!!
Oh my goooooshhhh! What C.S Pacat did with my heart all over this book doesn't have a name! This book should get insta-famous. Like, right now! This book is THAT good!
Dark Rise is supposed to be a young adult book. And I definitely can see why one can think that (the fight between the light & darkness, having clear “good” and “villain” characters... and all that). BUT, I really think that it leaned older! The characters are complex enough and the plot turns... well, it turns.
Compelling characters, a very strong beginning, slow-paced loved the middle and a great cliffhanger at the end!
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