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freckled_frog_boi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I had really high hopes for this one because it was set in old London, with a magical world hidden from the eyes of humans, and an ancient war the main characters are thrust into. Plus, we have some queer and poc rep!
However, it felt lacking on quite a few levels. Maybe because it's a YA novel, and I just didn’t check the genre beforehand? Idk. But I believe YA could be good if it were written well; this book was… not.
First of all, do you know the miscommunication trope? It felt like the author was miscommunicating to the readers the whole time. Yes, there was foreshadowing, but it was to lead us all in a different direction, only for the author to “plot twist” us all in the last 50 pages. While some foreshadowing worked for both storylines, the original wrong one and the plot-twist right one, there was no way we could have seen the twist coming, which is the opposite of the whole point of foreshadowing, I feel.
The author also had the mc spout monologues to explain what was going on, as if the mc just ~Knew~ what was going on the whole time. And even though we were in his POV most of the time, there were no hints as to what he actually knew.
AND THERE WAS NO HUMOR??? Literally, the only two funny parts were unintentional. It was not meant to be funny, but it was too absurdist not to chuckle. PSA! WE NEED MORE HUMOR IN FANTASY! PLEASE!
Also, it tried to follow the trope of having all MC parents be dead/abusive so they wouldn’t hold the heroes back from their adventure. It felt overdone and didn’t help me get into the novel. I felt like rolling my eyes.
For example, the author made a POC character, only to have her adopted parents be racist and abusive in order to force her into a hero’s journey. And then it was never discussed again. Being Indian isn’t a plot device; it's part of her character, and I wished there was more fleshed out for her. She was also described as boyish/manly, which I didn’t appreciate. Not simply because she was the only POC character as far as I could tell, but because she trains to become a strong fighter, and her “manliness” is given as one of the reasons she’s interested in swords and learning to fight. You can be feminine and like swords, goddammit. She doesn’t need to be masculine to like sword fighting!
Second of all, the queer rep was disappointing. We don’t really get a hint that Will, our MC, is bi until he kisses a girl who I’m pretty sure is his cousin. Gross. And it’s not explained away. Later, when we realize he somehow knew the truth the whole time, none of the characters even blink once about it. It’s just not addressed. Prior to him kissing his cousin, we are lead to think he’s gay; given what we are told, he appreciates other people’s “boyish” looks. To me, it felt like his attraction to women was just a plot point to build a single point of unidentifiable foreshadowing. It was not written to be a part of his character. Which sucks.
Another weird thing for me was reading the POVs of the women in the book. They all had an underlying tone that they had crushes on Will. There was no reason that needed to be in there. Like the author could have just written it, so that wasn’t the case. Idk why they chose to do that; there was no point in us reading about a bunch of women crushing on, who we thought, was a gay man. It’s just uncomfortable.
And finally! The gay romance. Firstly, the only queer romance in here was between MLM, white, pretty boys. Which is OK to have in a book, those types of characters can be wonderful. But this story wrote all of them as being extremely powerful but extremely submissive, which is just another form of harmful representation. And all of the gay romances are highly sexualized, down to stabbing scenes containing crazy sexual subtext. It made me extremely uncomfortable to read, and that’s REALLY saying something bc I like a good horny romance. This is just not a good horny. Rip.
I don’t know. With how this book was explained, I was hoping to see more of a variety of queer rep, at least healthy queer rep!
It just didn’t feel well done. Sorry guys!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Animal death, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, and Torture
Moderate: Death of parent and Abandonment
Minor: Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, and Colonisation
johnnytest's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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
First half of the book seems just fine when reading for the first time, but man on the reread the whole book was really enjoyable. The second half of the book was a “read-in-one-session” kinda deal for both my first and second read through, and the way the history/lost civilization stuff unravels is everything to me
Honestly I think I liked it better the second time around for spoiler reasons but once you can piece everything together it is just so satisfying
original rating = 4/5
reread rating = 5/5
I’m sure there are plenty of valid criticisms of this book but tbh the last 50ish pages are burned into my brain forever so I’m unwilling to accept them
Honestly I think I liked it better the second time around for spoiler reasons but once you can piece everything together it is just so satisfying
original rating = 4/5
reread rating = 5/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Slavery and Gore
Minor: Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Sexual violence, and Torture
criticalgayze's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
If Daddy Tolkien has taught the kids anything, one would hope it would be the importance of world building. The Granddaddy of Fantasy, the man constructed a universe and a history from the foundation up and dedicated his career to fortifying his creation. While Pacat wants to do a lot of begging and borrowing and stealing from Middle Earth and the larger canon of Campbell's Hero's Journey, it is clear that they are not interested in sticking around in their world longer than their trilogy, and it creates some wear and tear at the edges.
What do you have here? The return of a Dark King, a hidden (albeit non-elfin) city, magical objects that enslaved human kings, and a "shining lady." (Plus, also a lot of Harry Potter and Star Wars-adjacent Hero's Journey tropes.)
What else did you have? Too much. This is supposed to feel like the first book in a trilogy, yet it felt like a standalone work. You have every trope of every major fantasy series stuffed into this single <500 page volume. You have mass slaughters. You have magical romances begun, then ended, and then new ones begun. You have torture and then escape. You have slaughter. You have first, second, and third reveals about each individual character. I cannot fathom reading another two books that can sustain this momentum, yet I also worry that I could be just as exhausted at the end of each installment.
Finally, while I haven't read their Captive Prince trilogy, I know there has been some discourse around their use of enslavement as the precipitation for romance. While I won't give away too much for those who want to read Dark Rise (DM me here or on Instagram - also @criticalgayze), I will say that this book doesn't make the best case for Pacat. While I have the CP trilogy on my shelves as a planned read this year, I will be entering it a little more wearily.
Now, I did give the book 3-stars because Pacat is clearly a talented writer. This was fast-paced with an intriguing universe, even if I did want it to be a little more fleshed out, and the first half especially is a very enjoyable read before you begin to feel a little gorged as a reader.
What do you have here? The return of a Dark King, a hidden (albeit non-elfin) city, magical objects that enslaved human kings, and a "shining lady." (Plus, also a lot of Harry Potter and Star Wars-adjacent Hero's Journey tropes.)
What else did you have? Too much. This is supposed to feel like the first book in a trilogy, yet it felt like a standalone work. You have every trope of every major fantasy series stuffed into this single <500 page volume. You have mass slaughters. You have magical romances begun, then ended, and then new ones begun. You have torture and then escape. You have slaughter. You have first, second, and third reveals about each individual character. I cannot fathom reading another two books that can sustain this momentum, yet I also worry that I could be just as exhausted at the end of each installment.
Finally, while I haven't read their Captive Prince trilogy, I know there has been some discourse around their use of enslavement as the precipitation for romance. While I won't give away too much for those who want to read Dark Rise (DM me here or on Instagram - also @criticalgayze), I will say that this book doesn't make the best case for Pacat. While I have the CP trilogy on my shelves as a planned read this year, I will be entering it a little more wearily.
Now, I did give the book 3-stars because Pacat is clearly a talented writer. This was fast-paced with an intriguing universe, even if I did want it to be a little more fleshed out, and the first half especially is a very enjoyable read before you begin to feel a little gorged as a reader.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Murder, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death and Incest
crdjrose's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Gore
kaseybereading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Genocide, Gore, Violence, and Vomit
fromjuliereads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-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
3.0
**Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**
I so wanted to love this book. The concept was so intriguing and the book started out so strong! But there were just some things that didn't work for me alongside the things that did work. It took a little time and some conversations/reviews for me to be able to piece together all of my thoughts.
I do think the one thing this book did really well was keep you guessing and continually throwing curves and reveals at you. This was my first read by Pacat so I am not sure if that is common to their writing, or if that is a unique element to this book. But there were numerous moments when you think you might finally have something figured out, and then a reveal is thrown at you and it leaves you reeling trying to figure out where you are now and where things will go next. I can't get into much more detail about that though, because these should definitely not be spoiled!!
I will also say that I really liked the characters of Will, Violet, and James. I think they are well-done characters and I was intrigued to see where their stories were going, how they all weaved together. Especially for James - somehow he ended up being the more complex character!
Now, unfortunately, there were more things that didn't work for me than there were things that I liked.
The first is that I REALLY struggled with the pacing of this book... The beginning pulls you in so quickly and you are entirely caught up in what is going on, trying to figure things out and follow the characters. There is lots that happens at the onset of the story, and you can't help but be pulled along with the characters. HOWEVER, the entire middle of the book drags on sooooo slow. The best way that I can explain it is if it were like a roller coaster ride where there was a big exciting drop at the very beginning, and then the longest length of straight coasting track before a final ascent and a loop-de-loop at the very end... I think it was almost 200 pages of just slowness through the middle that seriously dragged for me - to the point where I ended up skim reading some sections closer to the end of the book because I had lost a lot of my interest. It was so disappointing.
I think a big part of that stems from the fact that while the beginning and the end have so many things happening TO the main characters, the entire middle of the book is seemingly events happening AROUND the main characters that they are often not involved in and do not understand. It just made things a lot slower. And while I liked the main characters, it was difficult to keep track of which side characters I was supposed to be paying attention to. Characters that were quite developed and piqued my interest were suddenly killed off part way through, while characters that had little to no development were still around at the end of the book. It was a big odd and confusing. I completely understand that it is a fantasy novel and you cannot get too attached to characters (believe me, I know) - but it was a bit odd for which characters were developed and killed off, along with the majority of the characters, and the final characters that were left in as part of the continuing narrative.
Anyways. I think maybe if the pacing issues hadn't been there, I would have enjoyed this book so much more. I just wish that it had been paced a bit better... BUT if you are okay with a slower, slightly uneventful middle to a book, this one definitely has some great characters and unique concepts to get you through! Let me just say: magical sex slave collar... if you know, you know. HAHA.
I so wanted to love this book. The concept was so intriguing and the book started out so strong! But there were just some things that didn't work for me alongside the things that did work. It took a little time and some conversations/reviews for me to be able to piece together all of my thoughts.
I do think the one thing this book did really well was keep you guessing and continually throwing curves and reveals at you. This was my first read by Pacat so I am not sure if that is common to their writing, or if that is a unique element to this book. But there were numerous moments when you think you might finally have something figured out, and then a reveal is thrown at you and it leaves you reeling trying to figure out where you are now and where things will go next. I can't get into much more detail about that though, because these should definitely not be spoiled!!
I will also say that I really liked the characters of Will, Violet, and James. I think they are well-done characters and I was intrigued to see where their stories were going, how they all weaved together. Especially for James - somehow he ended up being the more complex character!
Now, unfortunately, there were more things that didn't work for me than there were things that I liked.
The first is that I REALLY struggled with the pacing of this book... The beginning pulls you in so quickly and you are entirely caught up in what is going on, trying to figure things out and follow the characters. There is lots that happens at the onset of the story, and you can't help but be pulled along with the characters. HOWEVER, the entire middle of the book drags on sooooo slow. The best way that I can explain it is if it were like a roller coaster ride where there was a big exciting drop at the very beginning, and then the longest length of straight coasting track before a final ascent and a loop-de-loop at the very end... I think it was almost 200 pages of just slowness through the middle that seriously dragged for me - to the point where I ended up skim reading some sections closer to the end of the book because I had lost a lot of my interest. It was so disappointing.
I think a big part of that stems from the fact that while the beginning and the end have so many things happening TO the main characters, the entire middle of the book is seemingly events happening AROUND the main characters that they are often not involved in and do not understand. It just made things a lot slower. And while I liked the main characters, it was difficult to keep track of which side characters I was supposed to be paying attention to.
Anyways. I think maybe if the pacing issues hadn't been there, I would have enjoyed this book so much more. I just wish that it had been paced a bit better... BUT if you are okay with a slower, slightly uneventful middle to a book, this one definitely has some great characters and unique concepts to get you through! Let me just say: magical sex slave collar... if you know, you know. HAHA.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Racism and Torture
There is a mass murder that happens, and the scenes following are described in some detail.leedolee's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
fast-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? No
5.0
This book!!!!!
I didn't think I would fall in love with this book the way I did, but I did. I absolutely loved every single page of this book.
I've always enjoyed books where fantasy worlds existed in our own worlds, albeit a different era. And I absolutely loved the idea of Light battling the Dark.
The plot twists in this book were plenty and every single one surprised me. Although, the Big Reveal was something I had not seen coming! It was definitely unexpected and I didn't connect the dots until the Big Reveal.
The main characters were also fun to read about as well as the battle sequences, the magic, the lore, and the history.
I cannot wait for the sequel!
I didn't think I would fall in love with this book the way I did, but I did. I absolutely loved every single page of this book.
I've always enjoyed books where fantasy worlds existed in our own worlds, albeit a different era. And I absolutely loved the idea of Light battling the Dark.
The plot twists in this book were plenty and every single one surprised me. Although, the Big Reveal was something I had not seen coming! It was definitely unexpected and I didn't connect the dots until the Big Reveal.
The main characters were also fun to read about as well as the battle sequences, the magic, the lore, and the history.
I cannot wait for the sequel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, War, Violence, and Torture
Minor: Racism, Sexism, and Vomit
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