Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat

17 reviews

emilia777's review

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 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Confinement

Minor: War, Adult/minor relationship, and Slavery

joonjxne's review

adventurous dark slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Grief

cait's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Abandonment, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racism, Gaslighting, Gore, Violence, Vomit, and War

potatogrr's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-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

4.25

wow morally grey characters are always a trip.

also, please let them kiss C.S.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, War, and Death

Moderate: Classism, Grief, Kidnapping, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault

spooderman's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Classism, Murder, Emotional abuse, Blood, Violence, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Confinement, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Pedophilia, Xenophobia, Racism, Trafficking, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexism, Infidelity, Incest, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexual assault, Self harm, Slavery, Outing, Child death, Child abuse, and Abandonment

naechan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

I don’t expect much from YA books anymore, but this was such a pleasant surprise. I thought the writing was proficient, the characters were likable with interesting dynamics between them and the plot and world building were entertaining and kept me engaged. The plot twist (if you could call it that) was very obvious, especially if you have seen the second book title/cover, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment. Even if I, as the reader, already knew about it, the mystery quickly became more about how the information was going to come out to light, how the characters would react to it and how the events would unfold once it all became clear. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite book ever, but I borrowed it from my library and I liked it enough to want to buy a copy for myself which is something I rarely do because I’m very selective with the books I chose to own. I’m really looking forward to the next one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder

lilifane's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book broke me. So if this sounds appealing to you, and you read it based on my review, please don't complain afterwards. 

The start was very promising, but then there was a lot of world building and getting to know characters for like 30-50% of the book. Enough action and plot twists to keep me interested, but also very few bread crumbs of what I really wanted to read about to make me impatient. The second half is just a wild ride.
It is supposed to be YA and I recognize the typical tropes coming with a YA fantasy books. But most of them have a spin or are resolved in a new way, which I really loved. You expect things to happen, and then they do happen, but in unexpected ways to mess with your head. In fact, I truly believe, the author just wrote this book to mess with my head specifically. Especially with the ending, which makes me question everything I thought I knew about myself. 
Anyway, this book also seems a little too brutal for YA? The stakes are definitely higher than usual, and the author isn't afraid of showing it. 
The world building is interesting, and the mysteries are intriguing, but what I loved the most were the intense and intimate scenes between the characters. I held my breath so many times I lost count, tbh. Thank goodness, the sequel is coming out next month. Can't wait to get my heart ripped out and trampled on again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, and Violence

jeyjeyyy's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious slow-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

 Though it did have some inconsistencies and some stuff that didn’t quite make sense (still don’t know what exactly are lions), it is easy to lose yourself in the story. The plot twists had me gasping, the story is overall very well put together, the characters and their relationships are interesting and complicated in the best way, the world-building something not quite like anything I’ve ever seen. Loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

justineaxelle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I’m struggling to form my thoughts on this book. I like some aspects of it and others I wanted to like but didn’t. The writing is good but doesn’t hook you in either, or only at some points throughout the story.  I did like the characters but none of them stood out either. I think the plot and its complications overtook the characters and their dynamics completely, and I wanted to see more of the relationships developing. We literally got crumbs for a romantic ship and it was absolutely not enough. The plot twists were good, but there was also too much death. I wish C. S. Pacat would use other things to get her characters to develop other than experiencing deaths of loved ones. You shouldn’t have to kill 80% of your characters to make the plot move along and make your MC develop in some way. 
It also didn’t go the way I thought it would in terms of storyline. Reading the first half of the book feels like listening to a song, waiting for the beat to drop and then suddenly it skips to another song and your brain is struggling to switch to another rhythm.  I wanted to give the book 3 stars but the ending and the plot twists made it better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Blood, Child abuse, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

arobear's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Slow to start, but worth a read. I enjoyed the worldbuilding and mystery of the bigger picture and the war. After

the big twist

I waned to throw my book across the room, which seems to be a theme for books I read by  C. S. Pacat (in a good way). I'm interested to see where the story goes in the next book. If you enjoyed the political intrigue of Captive Prince you'll enjoy this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, War, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Abandonment