I tried to read this book, simply because I loved the Captive Prince series so much. I knew going into this series would be different, mainly because this is a YA series, but I was sure I would enjoy it because I enjoyed the writing in Captive Prince.

Unfortunately, there was very little I enjoyed in this book. The plot is extremely slow paced and confusing. I had a hard time connecting to any characters or caring about the plot in general. This book is also over 400 pages and I typically like books on the longer side, but only if it is needed. I felt like a few things could have been cut from this and it would have read so much better and quicker.

Great characterization and world building, and I recommend as a good YA title. I believe this will be a trilogy so the twist ending keeps you waiting for the next book.

This was a good fantasy story. I was drawn in right away. The twists were surprising and made the story more interesting. I would read a sequel if one is written. I would recommend this book for high schoolers or adults.

C.S. Pacat has done it again, folks! This is not one you want to miss out on... The characters are captivating, the world-building is fantastic, and the story sucks you in until the very last page. It's a great fast-past read with plot twists and turns that will keep you gasping and wanting more... And good thing, too! This is the beginning of a trilogy! Pick this one up in September, you won't be sorry!

Dark Rise seems, at first, to play into a lot of classic YA speculative fiction tropes. You have the chosen one, the woman warrior, the privileged one who doesn’t understand the world they find themselves in but who is instantly loved by one of the other protagonists, you have magic, you have good vs evil. And for awhile, that is exactly how the story plays out. Everyone has their roles and those roles appear fixed, with everyone forever doomed to play their parts again and again, throughout time.

Very quickly, however, it becomes clear that this is not that story. At one point in the book, Will tells James, the Reborn incarnation of the Betrayer, one of the worst enemies of the Light, that Will isn’t all that interested in who James was: “I think what people were is less important than what they are. And what people are is less important than what they could be.”

These two sentences are the central theme of the entire novel. Pacat shows these characters a world where who they were in the past, who their people were, seems to dictate everything. The past, the characters are told, is not only prologue, but epilogue. It would be not only easy to slip into their assigned places on the battlefield, but comfortable.

Ultimately, it is the characters who question their place, who fight against what they are told they were, that seek to find out who they could be, that make all the difference in this story. It is a novel that tells its readers that the past does not define them unless they allow it. We are stronger than our ancestors and we need not make their mistakes. Who we are is less important than who we could be.

CS Pacat writes such complex characters, and builds layered and fascinating worlds for them to live in. There's not clear good or bad, and I never knew where things were headed in this book. I loved it. And I especially appreciated that the book centers around a strong and loyal female, and her newly forged friendship with a boy. He also has such a good heart, and the two of them--gasp--don't fall in love with each other! See? Unexpected! This book is full of adventures and plot twists, and even begins with pirates. There are moments when you are truly afraid for them main characters because you care about them so much. I can't wait to read the next one in the series.

Interesting read. The world building and prose were amazing, but I didn't find myself connecting well with the characters or really getting invested in their story. I'm sure it will engage a certain audience and the cover deserves all the praise.

This was such a wonderful read. CS Pacat is at it again with a dark and lavish read. The narrative is smooth and makes it hard to put down.

Pacing? Excellent!
Characters? Disgustingly relatable. I love every single one of them with my whole heart.
I couldn’t put this book down! It’s very nature makes it so hard to review while staying spoiler free ... but here goes:
Dark Rise was this sinister and surprisingly vulnerable story about a battle between good and evil, the Dark and the Light, that has spanned over centuries. It’s about finding yourself and what you will fight for. It’s about finding the people you trust with your weaknesses. It’s clever and snarky and emotional! It succeeds at being both fast paced and action packed, while still being this sort of soft, slow-burn surprise. This is one of those addictive stories, and one of those lush fantasy worlds, that is going to live in my mind long past when I finished reading. I can’t wait for the sequel!! I have a feeling this story truly is just getting started and I can’t wait to see where the rest of the trilogy takes us!

* My ONLY real critique at this point, is that it was a little predictable. I didn’t go into this book with the mentality of trying to figure anything out! I didn’t stop and spend time puzzling the pieces together. I’m not sure if it was just me (being older than the intended audience) or if the foreshadowing was maybe a little blunt - but I did see a lot of the plot twists coming... that being said, even if certain things weren’t necessarily a *surprise* - it was still “fun” to see exactly how those things came about!! And anything that I guessed was coming, all happened in book one, leaving me completely clueless as to what could be coming in book two!!! Can’t wait to find out.

Disclaimer: I received an advanced reader copy (ARC) of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Dark Rise is the first book in a new young adult fantasy trilogy by C.S. Pacat, it is set in a historical version of London where “the ancient world of magic is no more”. Will is a sixteen year old dock boy who is on the run and being hunted by the men who killed his mother. While on the run he finds out about his destiny, he must fight along the Stewards and train to play a vital role in an upcoming battle against the Dark. This journey will lead to self-discovery, allegiances, destined roles, and is action packed.

I am a fan of multiple and/or changing point of views. In Dark Rise my favorite were Will and Violet, I felt the most connected to them. While I enjoyed the others, the emotional connection wasn’t fully there. I understand that this is just the first book, so I’m hoping the upcoming books will delve more into other characters that I am interested in. I would personally love more backstory of side characters and of the magical world.

Dark Rise felt like a good beginning to a new series that contains strong characters within an interesting fantasy world. It is smart, compelling, and a very well written fantasy. I hope to find out more in the upcoming books and can’t wait to see where these characters will be lead.

This book is scheduled for publication on September 28th, 2021. If you are a fan of young adult fantasy, multiple pov’s, and complex characters I would recommend checking out this book.

In 1821 London, Will is working the docks, trying to find the man who ordered his mother’s death and get his revenge. Violet sneaks onboard her half-brother’s ship to watch him take the brand of the mysterious trader, Simon, dreaming of being able to do the same one day. Their lives collide when Will finds himself captive in the hold and mysterious knights arrive looking for someone else. A dangerous weapon is unleashed, and Violet risks her life to get Will free before the ship goes down with him.

The knights, known as the Stewards, rescue them, assuming both were their enemy Simon’s captives, not realizing that Violet is actually the daughter of one of Simon’s loyalists. They retreat to their magically hidden ancient fortress, where Will and Violet learn about the ancient unwritten history of the world. The Dark King, The Lady, The Betrayer, Shadow Kings, and more populate the story from a near mythical time thousands of years ago, when magic was part of the world, and descendants of the Dark King are working to bring him back into the world, unleashing magic that will destroy the world as we know it.

This one is a bit tough to review and avoid spoilers, but the gist of it for me is the plot boils down to questions of nature vs. nurture, as well as free will vs. fate. This is the first book in a trilogy, so no real answers yet, but we see this play out more than once as those of particular “blood” are judged by what their ancestor did thousands of years ago, not what they are doing today. Are some of the current bad guys bad because of their nature and their fate, or did they turn to the dark due to being abandoned by the light? Is their free will enough to overcome both nature and nurture?

Being the first in a trilogy, the first half is slow paced as the world is being built. It could have totally been set in a fantasy world, as 1821 London is just a starting point for Will and Violet, who are quickly pulled into a world just out of view of the rest of humanity, dominated by a magical history. There are some twists regarding that whole “nature, nurture, free will, fate” thing. Most are pretty obvious simply because we only have so many characters on the page and it’s obvious there will be a twist, even though some of the characters aren’t very well established.

There were a couple of writing quirks that started to take me out of the story. The first is Overusing Capitalization: The Dark King, The Lady, The Betrayer, and Shadow Kings. The Dark King does get a name, and some of the other names are mentioned, but not used on the regular. I think this is in part due to the stories being almost mythical even to the Stewards who have been retelling them for generations, so details were lost or forgotten, or we the reader just don’t need to know it.

The second is a weird habit of repetition. Character A says their line, Character B mentally repeats it, sometimes even adding on a repetition of a line said previously that is tied to the new line. A simple reaction to the line would have been sufficient most of the time.

I have not read Pacat’s Captive Prince series yet, but I have been reading the graphic novel series Fence, which is probably not the norm among readers of this book. From what I can tell, she has a way of very subtle LGBT+ representation in her work. In this case, one lead has both a male and female love interest, though there’s not much made of it. None of the London characters seem to react to queer-coded characters, while the Stewards only seem to react negatively to one of the male historical figures having been reputed to be in the Dark King’s bed because, well Dark King, yet they don’t have the same association with his female lover. I think this is probably because their stories tell them The Lady loved the Dark King, but was eventually the only one able to kill him, but exactly how has been lost to time.

A slightly slow but solid entry to begin a trilogy, and being the first means of course there’s a cliffhanger of an ending. I do hope the author delves into the past more. I’d love to see if we’re meant to see history playing out again, with the players having little to do with the role they’ve been cast in this lifetime, or if they now have free will to make another choice.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a fan of C.S. Pacat’s previous works and was very excited to read Dark Rise. It’s an interesting, action-packed YA take on the classic “Dark vs Light” fantasy story, with influences from The Lord of the Rings.

It’s set in a historical version of London – albeit one with added magic – though for most of the story I felt as though it could have been set anywhere. It didn’t feel as though London was particularly vital to the story as a setting, though perhaps this is because characters spend much of their time in specific locations and buildings, rather than around London itself.

There were some aspects of the book which felt flat, and others that were truly riveting. The changing POVs worked well for the most part – Will and Violet especially were always interesting – but Katherine, for example, didn’t feel as well-established. The emotional attachment I felt I was supposed to have for her just wasn’t there. I would have loved to learn more about Justice, too, and other side characters. Maybe we’ll see more side characters, and backstory for the magical world, in the books ahead? I loved the aspects of magic, and themes of a past war, that there's still so much to learn about.

There’s quite a bit of repetition in Dark Rise that I don’t always think was necessary. Characters are constantly talking aloud about (and thinking about) the Lady, the Dark King, the Stewards, the Lions. The same conversations and plot points are gone over numerous times. Even though the reader is placed in the midst of the action right at the beginning, the first half of the book felt slow sometimes, because of the repetition of these themes.

Saying that, around halfway through, I became completely invested in the main story, and raced along to the finish. There’s lots of action throughout that keeps you reading to the end. The twists were, for me, ultimately predictable, but still enjoyable – things are set up nicely for an intense second book. I enjoyed the magical aspects of the story, and James, Violet and Will are very interesting characters.

Dark Rise is definitely a good start to a series, with strong characters and an interesting take on fantasy themes, and I’ll be looking forward to what happens next. Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title.

This is a classic battle between good and evil, with old powers returning to bring the unsuspecting world to destruction, and a few unlikely heroes to stand in the way. But don’t get too comfortable—I feel like the battle is just beginning.

There were some leaps I didn’t quite follow, and a few moments that felt a bit flat (but that make sense in retrospect). But also, there are more than a few characters I absolutely need to know more about! I can’t believe I’ve signed up for a trilogy. But I’ve started, and nothing about the story went the way I expected, and now I’m invested.

I’ll be here for the next one.

I loved this book. Yes, I am a serious Captive Prince fan and, consequently, am a serious fan of C.S. Pacat. I can only assume that both of those facts have, in some way, influenced my feelings on this book, but as I could happily read Captive Prince sequels for the rest of my life, I honestly feel that my expectations were a double edged sword. I was just as prepared to be indifferent to this book as I was to love it.

The book’s basic premise is fairly straightforward; in an alternative 19th century London, a king from a long ago age of magic, aka the Dark King, threatens to rise again, rule the world, thereby causing mass chaos, death and destruction. If this sounds to you like an extremely popular book and subsequent epic movie series, you're probably not alone. Throw into this mix a few other “likenesses”, such as other, long-ago kings who turned evil and are now wraith shadow-kings who can kill you with their touch, and you might start to wonder whether a ring comes into this story. (hint: the answer is yes and no.)
If I were to criticize anything about this book, it would most definitely be these not-very-subtle parallels. No, they do not define the story, the characters, and plot development are (to me) both original and extremely well constructed. However, their presence, being both obvious and central to the overall narrative, were distractions and elicited, perhaps more than once, an eye-roll or two.

Moving on, against this backdrop we follow the story of Will, a teenager who has recently witnessed the murder of his mother, and is now running for his life. He has no idea who the murderers are, or why he and his mother have been targeted. The story really hits the ground running, as Will, who is now both living hand to mouth doing grunt work on wealthy trading ships and hiding from the killers, begins to understand his role is the Dark King prophecy.
Pacat has already proven her ability to develop believable and nuanced worlds, and this book is no exception. The descriptions of places, streets, etc...really come to life, while not dragging the story down by becoming overly-detailed. However, what the author is just so brilliant at, is the creation of her characters, all of which are extremely well written. They are, for the most part, likeable without becoming “special” (no Mary Sues’ in this story!), strong, smart and multi-layered. Their individual characterizations are so well crafted that I never second guessed their actions or thoughts. Likewise, their relationships are equally absorbing. While the dialogue itself is top notch, the interactions between particular characters are never one-dimensional. Just as people tend to act differently
depending on who they are with, so can (and should) richly drawn, complex characters. When reflecting on this book, after reading it almost overnight, I believe that the tremendous strength of the book's characterizations is what ultimately sets the story apart a lot from other YA Fantasy. The ending "twist" may ultimately not be a shock to some, but irregardless, it is a part of a story so well told, that this ultimately doesn't really matter. Finally, a shout out to the author's refusal to be constrained by traditional gender roles, especially as the story takes place in oppressive Georgian England. Without going into detail, this is, like so much else, expertly and convincingly accomplished.
While this book is in no way a Captive Prince deux (sorry), it is a smart, compelling and extremely well-written fantasy. The first book isn’t even out and I cannot wait for the sequel!

I don't know. I think I was just expecting more. I'm not not sure what exactly that "more" is, but after having read (and loved) the Captive Prince trilogy, I just wasn't impressed by this one.

I think the first major issue for me was the pacing. There's no reason for this book to have a second one coming out. There's probably 100+ pages that could have been cut out from this one. Then, combine it with the plot points that could have been cut from the next book, and *bam* you have one easy to read and enjoy book. Don't get me wrong; the book had a ton of potential. It just never really went anywhere. Between the changing character POVs and literal chapters were nothing happened, it was just... meh. The big plot twist at the end really wasn't that big of one; I kind of guessed it about half way through the book.

For those of you who are coming here, hoping to read a series like Captive Prince, well, this book doesn't have anything of the sort. You're going to be very disappointed if you're here for romance. While the book seems to be setting up a relationship for the next book, this one definitely doesn't have anything romance-wise.

I think that this book wanted to be the YA version of A Darker Shade of Magic with an alternate London. It just never quite made it there.