Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat

50 reviews

rinniebeanie's review

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Animal cruelty

evbyrd's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Animal death, Child death, and Blood

blewballoon's review

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Torture, War, and Confinement

Minor: Body horror and Child death

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Slavery

smartie_5748's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death

Moderate: Slavery, Violence, Torture, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Animal death and War

nillech'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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Kidnapping, and Torture

Minor: Animal death and Blood

shadowspinner's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, and Blood

Moderate: Animal death and Violence

Minor: Gun violence

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

ronniethereader's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

Well well well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Racism, Death of parent, and Blood

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

adult/minor relationship isn't explicit and mostly just mentioned as an engagement, but he (also the bad guy) is almost 40 and she is ~17

diana_raquel's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.75

“I think what people were is less important than what they are. And what people are is less important than what they could be.”

[Moment of fangirling: WHAT WAS THAT ENDING???? ALSO, PACAT, JAMES AND WILL BETTER BE ENDGAME!!]

Look, its very simple: everything Pacat writes, I read! I love every single book! This book is filled with mystery, intrigue and truly unexpected plot-twists. It also has a well-structured plot and well-developed characters. It has everything to be a favorite of mine! And it is! I loved it!

I can't wait for Dark Heir. Totally recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, Child abuse, Torture, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Genocide, Death of parent, War, and Violence