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katievallin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Grief and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Rape, and Slavery
convalaria98's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
First off, I love the premise. Starts out as a very typical, Light vs Dark & Chosen One fantasy, but it becomes pretty clear about 1/3 in that the author is planning to subvert tropes and flip some things around.
I love the beginning of the book. I throws you right into the action and makes for a great start. I will say there are A LOT of male characters with basic names you're introduced to early on, and I had some trouble keeping them all straight in my head.
I also LOVE the ending. Even having figured out the main plot points, I was still super impressed and engaged with how it was writen and how the details were tied in.
The book really plays into this idea of history being doomed to repeat itself and has many characters struggling against the roles they find themselves cast into. I think this is a super interesting dynamic and sets up for book two phenomenally.
Now the bad parts. The pacing in the middle was off for me. There were sections with nothing but info dump that dragged on and others with plots and quests that felt super rushed. A lot of side quests were packed into the middle that I felt could've been either cut or expanded. As it was ... they simply existed. I also felt there were too many side characters mentioned that ended up with little to no plot relevance. Definitely a forgivable offense, but worth noting.
All in all, a good intro to what seems like a very promising series.
I love the beginning of the book. I throws you right into the action and makes for a great start. I will say there are A LOT of male characters with basic names you're introduced to early on, and I had some trouble keeping them all straight in my head.
I also LOVE the ending. Even having figured out the main plot points, I was still super impressed and engaged with how it was writen and how the details were tied in.
The book really plays into this idea of history being doomed to repeat itself and has many characters struggling against the roles they find themselves cast into. I think this is a super interesting dynamic and sets up for book two phenomenally.
Now the bad parts. The pacing in the middle was off for me. There were sections with nothing but info dump that dragged on and others with plots and quests that felt super rushed. A lot of side quests were packed into the middle that I felt could've been either cut or expanded. As it was ... they simply existed. I also felt there were too many side characters mentioned that ended up with little to no plot relevance. Definitely a forgivable offense, but worth noting.
All in all, a good intro to what seems like a very promising series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault, and Torture
drasticpear's review against another edition
emotional
tense
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Everything faded, this world insignificant; James was the only real thing in it. You, you you. James's extraordinary beauty pressed in like a knife; it hurt.
Fuck me this was good. The characters are all interesting and loveable. I love Will & Violet's friendship. The fuckin twist! The goddamn ending! God!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, and Death of parent
Minor: Torture
guessgreenleaf's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Torture
Minor: War
rinniebeanie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Goddamn it, c.s. pacat has done it again. //Positive
No but for real, capri is one of my favorite series ever and so I've finally gotten around to read dark rise. The beginning is a bit slow but it's necessary for the signature pacat world and lore building. The last few chapters fly by like a bullet train, you won't know what hit you. Even being able to infer or guess what will happen will not prepare you for what actually takes place.
No but for real, capri is one of my favorite series ever and so I've finally gotten around to read dark rise. The beginning is a bit slow but it's necessary for the signature pacat world and lore building. The last few chapters fly by like a bullet train, you won't know what hit you. Even being able to infer or guess what will happen will not prepare you for what actually takes place.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Animal cruelty
k8buysrum's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The story was so good, it just took a little while to get it going. There’s quite the lull of world building information in the early to middle section that was a little dull. But the main characters are great. The unfolding of information and plot is great. I leave the first book all twisted up inside for how things may go in the second. I’m looking forward to reading it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Classism
evbyrd's review against another edition
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Blood, and Death of parent
blewballoon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I'm not sure how to rate this because I didn't really have any strong feelings about the book. I had mostly a bland reading experience. Apart from maybe Violet, I didn't feel attached to any of the characters, and that made it harder to care what was going on with them. It felt like I was just skimming the surface level of plot and characters for the most part.
The writing style reminded me of Sabriel by Garth Nix, which is nice, but that style doesn't help when the text is fairly repetitive and the book is mostly predictable.There are several twists towards the very end, but if you know there is a twist and you try at all to predict what it is, you will probably figure them all out long before the characters do. I didn't feel like any of the twists improved my opinion of the book or gave me that "oh I want to re-read now that I know the twist!" type feeling that would re-contextualize the story, and they didn't make me excited for a sequel. It's more that the whole first 90% of the book feels like it was just filler.
I'm trying not to be too harsh, but there really isn't much I liked, despite wanting to like it and having high hopes for it. It has elements that sort of reminded me of other books I do like, but as if I only got the seltzer drink wisp of flavor of the real fruit. I don't even mind when stories are predictable and characters are a bit cliche as long as the book is still immersive and fun to read, but I didn't have much fun with this. I didn't hate it, though. For me, the book was a lot of death and dullness, and it's the combination of sad/bored that risks putting me into a reading slump if I don't find something good to snap me out of it. I will say the audiobook narrator is very good, but I kept speeding the poor man up (I think I finished on 1.6 speed) because I wanted it to be over.
The writing style reminded me of Sabriel by Garth Nix, which is nice, but that style doesn't help when the text is fairly repetitive and the book is mostly predictable.
I'm trying not to be too harsh, but there really isn't much I liked, despite wanting to like it and having high hopes for it. It has elements that sort of reminded me of other books I do like, but as if I only got the seltzer drink wisp of flavor of the real fruit. I don't even mind when stories are predictable and characters are a bit cliche as long as the book is still immersive and fun to read, but I didn't have much fun with this. I didn't hate it, though. For me, the book was a lot of death and dullness, and it's the combination of sad/bored that risks putting me into a reading slump if I don't find something good to snap me out of it. I will say the audiobook narrator is very good, but I kept speeding the poor man up (I think I finished on 1.6 speed) because I wanted it to be over.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Torture, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Body horror and Child death
emilia777's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
a little less cyprian a little more james
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Confinement, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, and War
pitsikakku's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Slavery