A review by ririsbooks
Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat

medium-paced

3.5

The writing style felt a lil amateur ish 
And there were some places where the pacing was meh 
But I liked that the author wasn't afraid to make shit hit the fan 
But MAJOR points off in my book for the dark(bad) vs light (good) cuz that's just problematic motif 
But MAJOR SPOILER FOR THE END OF THE BOOK

will being the dark one all along? And james not knowing it at the end absolutely killed me!!! Like ffs james shouldve been a central character because his story was extremely interesting. Like being forced into submission and killing everyone you love and then being labeled a traitor and meanwhile people are atill trying to take advantage of and control you. AND THEN he at the end tells will that he trusts ans will follow him not knowing he was the reincarnation of the dark one?????? Oh my lord. That wasnt even the point i came here to make. The point i did come here to make was if will was the dark one all along and everyone says that the dark one is meant to kill everyone and destroy everything, why is will what he is. Its nature vs nurture i guess? And the reincarnated people dont remember their past lives so essentially will got a second chance and he did choose at the end that he wasnt going to let kathryn die by the shadow kings. But isnt that just,,, plot over everyone go home now? Idk honestly cuz he never really had any temptations to start killing a bunch of people. Like he wasn't fighting his inner urges to be a bad guy