Dark Rise: A Thrilling YA Fantasy of Destiny, Magic, and Betrayal in Nineteenth-Century London: 1

Should this book have been 4 stars instead of 5? Honestly, yes. Do I care? No. Having said that, this review will contain a healthy dose of both praise and criticism. ‘Dark Rise’ is set in London, but contains a huge amount of world building and crafting to tell the story of a long-ago past where magic existed. There’s good and evil, with a Dark King and a Lady of light and we learn all about the history alongside the main character – Will – who everyone believes is the only person who can save them from the Dark King rising again. Along the way, we are introduced to Violet (an unnaturally strong girl whose ancestors historically fought for the side of dark, but now she wants to fight for the side of light), James (the dark king’s right hand man and lover, reborn to present day, waiting for the king’s return to fight by his side once again), Stewards (fighters for the side of light), Katherine and Elizabeth (daughters of ‘the lady’, whose blood must be shed in order for the dark king to rise) and all sorts of other people... However, as is only right, not everything is as it seems and the lines of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are not as clear cut as the story would have us believe… The world building is wonderfully told and I very much enjoyed reading it. I’ve seen others in their reviews saying that there was too much repetition of some aspects of the story and I agree to an extent, but as someone who does not read much world building I appreciated it. I would say that I think the story was overly complicated to a certain degree and didn’t really need to be. I get the impression Pacat was very excited by this book and wanted to put in a lot – but a ‘less is more’ approach could have put this to another level. Taking out some of the superfluous details of the magical world and concentrating more fully on the basic touchstones would have been very appreciated, because I did find myself very confused at points. Even now I’m not fully convinced I’ve picked up on all the details I should have. The characters were interesting and I enjoyed reading about them. I wanted to know what would happen next. Honestly, even if everyone had been who they appeared to be from the beginning, I would have still be interested to know...but then the twist with Will being the Dark King came and it just completely changed the whole game. I didn’t see it coming at all and it made me want to go back and read everything again with this new insight. I thought it was a truly masterful thing to do and made everything up until that point seem so much more full of nuance and intrigue. It turned it from a ‘good vs evil’ trope into something far more complex and meaty. In one moment, all of Will’s actions up to that point came into question. You see, C.S. Pacat seems to have come upon a very effective 'recipe' for how to completely hook people. I hesitate to say 'recipe' as this may imply that Pacat has cheated in some way, but I mean it as a compliment. For instance, she KNOWS people want James and Will in scenes together - that's probably why they're so few and far between. She KNOWS people don't really want to know if the characters are good or bad, hence making the main character someone who isn’t even aware of the side they stand on. The story is told in a neutral enough way to make everything Will does until the twist seem like it could be a cog in an evil game, happening because it's what the darkness within him truly desires, or a genuine attempt to work for the side of good. An example of this would be at the end, when James comes to Will, thinking of him as a saviour. Meanwhile, Will is aware of how pre-destined their reunion is, all the dark cogs working to bring them together, happening outside of even his own control … or IS IT outside his control? Is it what Will has wanted all along, the dark forces inside him working even while he remains (for now) consciously unaware. There’s a real beauty in this and I, for one, have not read anything like it. I will finish this review by touching on the building of the relationship between James and Will. It is clear to me that Pacat very much enjoys writing queer pairings. I was worried that she may try to force a relationship between Violet and Will, or that Katherine would be the love interest (which seemed dangerously possible, despite there being zero things interesting about her character or them as a couple) but when James stepped into the scene, the electricity was undeniable. I was happy that the success of the Captive Prince trilogy did not urge Pacat to veer off to the land of the straights in an attempt to avoid being seen as trying to replicate Damen / Laurent. In contrast, James possesses a striking similarity to Laurent’s character in both looks and general personality, so it seems Pacat is not afraid of this at all. Good! She is so good at writing queer pairings and you can tell from reading her books that she very much enjoys writing them. I’m not sure what side Will is on, but I have no doubt that where this book ends is only really the beginning. I would agree with other reviewers that we never really get a sense of who Will is and it makes it hard to connect to him as a character. Now, having finished Dark Rise, I’m convinced this was very intentional and that the next book will concentrate far more on his nuances now that his true identity has been revealed. I think revealing too much of Will’s character would have ruined the neutrality of the story telling – after all, we are meant to believe he is on the side of good. However, there are very clear breadcrumbs of his underlying darkness scattered throughout the book. He wanted to be the one to use the horn of truth on James. He admitted he stole Katherine from Simon to seek revenge. He gave James his freedom, but only because he knew it was a far more powerful way to draw him closer. The beauty of the Captive Prince books was always with the characters and I don’t think this has been lost. The ending of this book has convinced me of that. In short, I can’t wait for Dark Rise 2.

Dark Rise took me on a wild ride filled with impossible to guess twists and turns and master foreshadowing. Will is on the run, though he’s not sure why or from who all he knows is someone murdered his mother and her last words to him were ‘run.’ An encounter with a servant from his old life though starts to fill in the blanks. Will is no regular dockboy, he is the descendant of an ancient warrior, a Steward, who defeated the Dark Lord in a battle centuries ago, and now someone is trying to raise him from the dead. Thrust into the world of the Stewards, ancient warriors who aren’t quick to accept outsiders, Will knows how important his role is in stopping the rise of the Dark Lord. But not all is as it seems, there are enemies and unlikely allies around every corner and Will will have to reach into the deepest part of himself if he is to awaken his powers and save everyone. Dark Rise is told from multiple POV’s. Will, Violet and Katherine. Will is our hero MC, thrust into a magical world he grew up knowing nothing about, but he jumps into his role head first despite his lack of training or knowledge. He has a kind of otherworldly nature about him, which makes sense when we learn that he is the descendant of The Lady, the Steward who managed to bring down the Dark Lord the first time. He carries a weight with him, wanting vengeance for the murder of his mother and has so many questions about his life and the quest in front of him. Violet works for Simon, the man who is trying to bring the Dark Lord back to life, though she doesn’t know of his magical side at first. She is feisty and not one to back down from a fight, perhaps due to growing up in a world that looks down on her for her mixed heritage. And Katherine, Simon’s fiance and someone whose roll in the story is kept pretty close to the vest until the later part of the book. She is your typical London socialite, until she spots Will and her world gets turned upside down. Alongside these characters Pascat introduces us to a world of side characters that all play large parts in the story. From members of the Stewards, to creatures from lore and members of Simons and the Dark Lords crew. My favourites definitely being Justice, a Steward who saves Will and returns him to the Stewards. He’s your stoic, silent, 100% for the cause kind of guy and I enjoyed his role in the story. The other being James, a reincarnation of one of the Dark Ones most loyal and deadly friends. Pascat writes this book in a way that is extremely reminiscent of older, more traditional fantasy. With the golden hero going on a journey of self discovery before saving the day, but thanks to the absolute bombs she drops throughout, this story becomes completely her own. I said it before and I’ll say it again, this book is bonkers. There were so many points when I thought I had the story down, I could see where it was going and felt comfortable in my assumption, and then Pascat would throw a pitch from left-field and completely upend my theory. But these weren’t spur of the moment twists that seemingly come out of nowhere, rather the so well woven into the plot ones that make you do a massive face palm wondering how you didn’t see it coming, and boy did I enjoy each and every one. I loved the worldbuilding in this book and how Pascat allowed us to learn the history of the Stewards, as well as the other magical forces alongside our MC’s. Neither Will, nor Violet knew anything about this world before they find themselves tangled in it, and that allows the author to give us plenty of lore and history without it feeling overwhelming in any way. The magic system was unique and another thing I enjoyed learning about, especially with how big a role it plays in the overall story. Thanks to Pascat’s writing style, the story progresses pretty quickly and, though there are some pretty long time jumps, which is normally something I dislike, she manages to propel the story along whilst also giving us enough character and world building to ensure we get invested in the outcome, hoping for our favourites to make in through alive. I’m so thankful that Susan pestered me into buddy reading this with her, not only because I was glad of having someone to shout at about the twists, but also because I enjoyed this story way more than I expected to. I’ve had a bit of a meh time with YA fantasy recently, but this has re-affirmed my love for it. Wondrously dark, twisty af and filled with characters you can’t help but root for, I can’t wait to pick up the sequel and see that the author has in store for us next.

This is my first C S Pacat book and I loved it so much that I’m getting Dark Heir to read asap. I’ll be honest, it is not a game changer for a YA novel. However, it has all the ingredients I love: all the expected tropes, the anti hero journey, it was elegant, and sexy … the dialogue is soo good! I was vying for Will,James ( the nudge to bdsm was what surprised me most) and Violet! Go Violet!!! I wanna get the ‘Bad Kitty’ t-shirt so bad

Pacat did wonderfully here creating a new and fascinating world and mythos, hinting at a much deeper mythology and keeping the reader guessing as to what comes next

Bought it for my sister ad a present. She loves it 🙂.

Interesting and exciting. Complicated characters, great world building and plenty of action.

Unremarkable shallow characters. Convoluted yet uninteresting plot. Waste of money

A word of warning. This is not the Captive Prince trilogy and nor does it try to be. It is a gradually built world of fantasy and intrigue, where nothing is black and white. Good and bad tropes are tuned into more subtle shades of grey and the reader is left wondering if anyone is as they fully seem. C S Pacat's writing style remains solid and once the story grabs you cannot put it down. I highly recommend.

At first I struggled a little to get into the story since I have attention issues, but I found that I kept going with this book (most books I start and never finish). The freakin' ending of this book is just...wow. I already have the second book and am glad I don't have to wait for this one. I learned about it on BookTok when looking for something new to read and I'm glad I picked it up.

I have to admit, Dark Rise managed multiple times to truly surprise me. So much so that I noted down "whiplash twists and turns" in my reading journal. In hindsight, I should have seen a couple of things coming, but I really didn't. This alone should be a good reason to start this trilogy, as it is unusual for me to be this surprised by a plot. I wasn't taken with the story as of the beginning though. I have always had a distaste for superheroes and while this book is fantasy, it certainly flirts with the Superhero genre. I'm not too big of a fan of Epic Fantasy either, so kudos to the author for having succeeded to make me change my mind about this. And boy, did I love this book once I got lost in the story. I loved the way in which Will and James's characters were built, and I adored all the unexpected plot turns. The combination of surprises and interesting characters made me forget that the genre was not at all up my alley. I, for one, cannot wait to start book two!

Lo compré para regalar. Llegó en buen estado.

Boken var smått skadad när den kom, några sidor var lite vikta. Boken var däremot jättebra 10/10

Very good in this price.