#keepholdingontobooks

“—Sarcean, the Dark King; the final eclipse; the endless night, whose dark reign will bring about the end of our world.”

-Excerpt from Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat from Uncorrected Proof

We follow along with Will’s journey in learning about the Old World where heroes and villains grappled in a war between Light and Dark. Magic, secrets, betrayals, control, were things that went hand in hand in this old world. Little by little, Will is introduced to this old and new world. Where descendants from the Light, have had a long vigil for the day that the Dark King returns with his evil beings, weapons, and his reign come again.

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

-Excerpt from Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat from Uncorrected Proof

In the middle of all this history, he begins to question his place in the legend. What he must do, and why everyone seems to be looking for him.

Readers aren’t ready for the Dark Rise trilogy.

One thing with reading advance copies so far out of release day is that not only do you have to wait for release day for other readers to join you in a journey, but then you have to wait even longer for the next installment. And here I thought it was a duology and that everything will be laid out within the next book, so I didn’t have to worry that much. Yeah…somehow I missed the word trilogy and just jumped into the synopsis.

If you’re wondering if C.S. Pacat will hold back being a young adult novel, you really don’t have to worry about anything. When the dust settled, I was left kind of shocked that she would have gone there. For what she did to the characters in every sense of that statement. I’ll get a bit spoilery later on and will tag it. For now, I will say that although the characters are teens, readers have to keep in mind that this is a story that spans centuries. Though the characters are in a new time, there are old times at play here. A lot of secrets and revelations that I think don’t even scratch the surface.

“Was this how it had been in those ancient days? The lights in the world going out, one by one, as the Dark King’s forces marched toward victory?”

-Excerpt from Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat from Uncorrected Proof

Now, if you are waiting for another Captive Prince, you will not find Damen and Laurent within this story. Does James remind me of Laurent? Yes, maybe, perhaps. The similarities run in the shallowness of blonde hair, and in the veneer of calculating demeanor. Yet, there is a softness, a vulnerability that makes itself known until the last chapter. So no, this isn’t another story of Damen and Laurent. This is something entirely new, but with the cleverness of something dark and twisted that looms at every chapter.

“He was beautiful. A golden beauty, he might have been carved from fine marble by some master, but there was no one in the world who looked like this.”

-Excerpt from Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat from Uncorrected Proof

Will harbors a cleverness that quickly surmises the actions and unfolding of things and those around him. He holds a type of magnetism with his genuine and rightness that people come to him and believe he can be the hero they’ve been waiting for….

He harbors cleverness and quickly adds up the information

That last sentence in Dark Rise? Imminent.

Throughout the 464 pages, I felt like I was bracing for something. Like I was being kept from something. Although, I kinda deduced it still doesn’t take away from anything that happens later on.

“Later he would think back on it as the moment when he had understood, all the pieces fitting together into a picture he didn’t want to see.”

-Excerpt from Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat from Uncorrected Proof

Since I had a bit of a theory whilst reading, I looked at the details and the information through that lens. Pacat has said that she likes an unreliable character, and that comes through here as well. I do wonder how this trilogy will play out since I can’t see a good way out of it.

It almost hurts for everyone when some of the truth is unraveled (for some characters, and some of the truth because there has to be more to it). The last pages are even bittersweet. That dance of one knowing and the other believing in one thing whilst the opposite is being played out to the unsuspecting (this makes sense once you read it). And then when you take in the different players and how this truth changes everything.

There are some things that still don’t make sense, especially from Will’s involvement and knowledge that I hope is cleared up in book two.

As for romance, I would say in this regard we can look at the blueprint of a slow burn. Of things at a realistic pace. The connections in this book are…transcending and interwoven. There is a lot to unpack and theorize. If anything, it speaks to Pacat writing in introducing characters, situations, and consequences that are complex and can’t be predictably resolved.

I’m really looking forward to how everything will progress from book one to book two, and to its conclusion. There are just too many questions, and too many theories swirling around right now. Obviously with nowhere to go because the first book isn’t even out yet.

If you’re looking for that romance across enemies lines, the tension between a hero and a villain…Pacat heard you but one-upped you.

“There’s one thing I do know so well that it’s part of me. Him. The fact of him. The feel of him. It’s deeper than memory, deeper than self, carved into my bones. And I can tell you this. “Simon isn’t a tenth of him. Simon’s plans, his power, his ambitions are nothing. Simon can’t comprehend him, as the warmth of a single day can’t comprehend a night that lasts for ten thousand years.”

-Excerpt from Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat from Uncorrected Proof

This is where I get SPOILERY, so please do not read on.

It should have been a clue when Pacat cited Lord of the Rings as her main inspiration for the series, but wanted to focus on the “enemy within.” Because what do you do when the biggest enemy is out there but within you?

Again, spoiler—but, though I don’t know how there will be a good outcome, say that you’re told a big villain who wants to bring chaos, destruction, darkness to the world. That it wants to subjugate humans, and only those with powers, magic, having a place in the world, will one day come. That you must defeat it. Only to find out that that person is actually within you.

The way I see it is that Will, like James, is a Reborn, and although they’re from that time they don’t remember what happened during that time. Will has the Dark King within him but perhaps is awake yet. Will he develop different personalities, of sorts, when the Dark King is awakened? Will it take over Will (does Will want what the Dark King wants, will he fight to not be like the Dark King?), the door waiting to burst open, and for him to claim his throne? How do Reborns work in this world

One thing I will say is that sometimes with reincarnation and descendants I’m a bit unsure with logic. This might be what Pacat meant to do in the narrative, but at one point, it feels like we’re supposed to be feeling that Will might have a romance between Katherine and/or James. My problem with the logic is that just because someone is a descendant of a person you might have loved, doesn’t mean you’ll feel a connection/spark/passion/love with a descendant. You mean to tell me that the great granddaughter/son is going to give you a connection just because you loved their great grandmother? What if they have multiple siblings, who will you feel a connection with? Reborn, I get.

I’m intrigued with how Pacat will develop James and Will’s connection (I’m trying to be vague here), but damn. Pacat really loved the complications. THERE ARE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

SPOILER END.

Dark Rise though rich in details, secrets, magic, and darkness, it’s really just the beginning. There is a lot to come, of that I’m sure.  The sense of something wrong remained through the entire novel until slowly, things start to unravel and slot to start the bigger picture.

In conclusion: C.S. Pacat is back.