Why you should read Dark Rise | Review

[@moonsauce88]

I have reread chapter 34 like ten times and still smile “of course you are” ahhhhhhhh💀

[@mariajesus7594]

OMG I SCREAMED!!!!! SOOO GOOD!!!!

[@ragnikaza3586]

It’s weird how The Elder Steward believed that Will was ✨The One✨ even though he couldn’t light up some stupid tree. The High Jannisary is smarter than her.

[@moonsauce88]

Also, “what’s it going to be? … Feed you a grape?” (Page 365) if one of them doesn’t end up doing this at some point in the trilogy I will revolt 😆 because I too like my captive prince parallels where I can get them

[@sydnarrative]

FEED YOU A GRAPE 😭 James is such an icon. I'm prepared to revolt too

[@FunFantasyBooks]

Omggg! I just finished yesterday the Dark Rise and absolutely loved it! why is this not more famous! arg!!! what C.S Pacat did with my heart over the last 80 pages doesn't have a name!

[@ilram06]

I just finished the book and searched for reviews on here. The ending blew my mind. I did not see it coming at all. Also did not expect so many people to die...

[@sydnarrative]

That's Pacat's writing for ya 😂

[@squooshibananaa]

Omg ok i totally just stumbled across ur channel by name searching the new book, and you’re one of the first to have reviewed and I’m so glad I found your channel!!! As a fellow captive prince obsessor, I wish you success on booktube, your editing and content is great 🙌 Diving into Dark Rise now myself

[@sydnarrative]

Ahhh thank you very much!! 🥺❤️ I'm still learning the content creation process so that's reassuring to hear. But I hope you enjoy the journey into Dark Rise 😉

[@emmasosweet]

I just finished reading this at approx. 3am last night and I AM NOT OKAY. That ending??? My brain???? Book 2 when 😭 I'm so glad I found your channel as there are not enough people talking about this book!

[@JessieJay13]

i'm very interested in Devon too!! that scene caught me so off guard in the sense that it was surprising, yes, but also on my reread, i noticed a parallel that made me go absolutely FERAL. . . . . . . "...sometimes you rode down your prey, and sometimes you offered your prey an unlooked-for kindness, and, wounded and exhausted, it bowed its head for the silken rope." -- pg 342, Devon's POV as he reacts to Robert's gesture of giving him his horn back. "Will held out the Collar to him. It felt like holding out bread to a starving man who might snatch it and stab him for it anyway. James didn't. James's wariness was greater. 'Why would you give it back to me?' He was staring at Will with dark eyes." -- pg 367, as Will lets James go with the collar instead of using it on him. "...'But I don't want to follow [Simon and his father],' said James. 'I'm here to follow you.' His eyes were bright, his lips smiling, his hair gold in the shifting light from the fire. Will said, 'Of course you are.'" -- pg 45, the very end when James comes back, after having been free and clear, to offer himself up to Will (presumably) without knowing who he truly is or what he's agreeing to. the idea that Devon's scene was FORESHADOWING for this ending. that Will giving James the Collar, which seemed like such a good and moral and compassionate choice at the time, might actually have been a calculated tactic of manipulation, designed to lure James into associating Will with safety and agency when truly there is none, and we just didn't understand at the time because Will's narration is unreliable -- it makes me want to shriek like a pterodactyl. i haven't stopped screaming internally about it in the 7 months since i finished the book.

[@sydnarrative]

oh god now I'm internally SCREAMINGGG! that makes so much sense that Devon's scene was foreshadowing but I had no idea at the time. . . . . . . . . now I'm questioning wth Will's arc will be, will he turn to the darkness fully (because is it that kind of story) or will he turn to the light? Like as you read you can't really decipher if there's a separation from 'good' Will and 'bad' Will, or maybe I will once I reread cuz I cannot wait!

[@JessieJay13]

@@sydnarrative it's honestly so up in the air, I have NO IDEA where Will is gonna go from here, and the narration is so unreliable that it's hard to tell what his true motivations have even been thus far. I THINK that... . . . . . deep down, Will is good and he's been trying up to this point to DO good. the end of the book had this sort of creeping horror to it, a sense of inevitability, of a noose tightening as Will realized that all his resistance had been pointless and he'd still ended up exactly where the Dark King would have wanted, and it makes me so fucking curious about what he's going to do moving forward. keep trying to resist? cling desperately to the idea that he can escape his past? or give in to that sense of hopelessness, accept the darkness as the path of least resistance, if everybody (his mother, Katherine, Devon) is going to see him only as the Dark King no matter what he does. it's a fascinating conflict for a protagonist character and I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the next book, I need it NOW

[@JessieJay13]

(ps. I have a Dark Rise discord server up and running, if you or anyone else happens to be interested in joining that........it also has a CaPri channel, cuz there's so much overlap in readership 😂)

[@sydnarrative]

@@JessieJay13 Ooo yes I'll join! What is it called?

[@JustinScott]

I’m glad you brought up the scene with Robert and Devon. I still don’t fully understand that series of events 😂

[@AmaVeraPoca]

DARK HEIR IS OUT AND I CAME BACK TO THIS REVIEW TO CRY. Are you going to make a review for that as well? Because OH BOY

[@sydnarrative]

I'll be doing a reading vlog!!

[@AmaVeraPoca]

@@sydnarrative omg yes please! This is exciting!!

[@moonsauce88]

Honestly I hope we get some super sad angst origin story in book 2 explaining the collar, like maybe they were together and James was going to leave bc shit was getting… Dark 🙃

[@carolinaestigarribia7052]

SPOILER What is up with Pacat killing my favorite characters😫😫 first Baby Nicaise and now Justice 😭😭Anyway, im so happy to have found you when i started reading captive prince. Its like im finally able to share these books with someone who knows all abt them❤️

[@sydnarrative]

Justice was one of my favs too! 🥺 And I'm glad to share all my captive prince feels with you! I sometimes think I mention it too much but its kind of hard not to bring it up when discussing Pacat's work 😂 Especially Dark Rise omg

[@shubhangiojha6125]

I am literally obsessed with this fandom. I don't think, there's going to be a time in my life when I won't be. Also your video is GREAT!!! Just keep it up❤️

[@Meimoons]

I haven't read Dark Rising and it's on my read list, but I liked this review. I'm surprised you're not more popular but I can see you going places!

[@sydnarrative]

Aw thank you! 😭

[@rin55]

You are like the only Dark Rise hypeman (well, woman) on YT. Subscribed. SPOILERS Forget Cyprian, Elizabeth is gonna try to kill Will asap. On basis of both, being the chosen one and blaming him for his sister's death. Unless Will finds a way to unpetrify Katherine? Which now that I think about it, might be where his next goal might lie: become powerful to be able to bring back Katherine. It's kind of her own fault for ending herself though. She trusted him enough to chase him for days risking her life, but not to keep her hands from the sword, when she is told to. Wait, what if Cyprian trains Elizabeth to kill Will? Hopefully not.

[@sydnarrative]

Oh true, Elizabeth went over my head 😂 I haven't heard about Katherine possibly being resurrected before but that could happen. I remember Justice resurrected himself at the beginning of the book and thought it was weirdly never mentioned again so... never say never I guess 👀 Your thoughts also make me question the timeline, like will this next book span over years if Elizabeth comes into her power?

[@rin55]

The book ended in a way that trying to predict where things go next is really hard. If I remember correctly, the sailors affected by the sword rotted from the inside, or sth? But I noticed that Katherine is not decomposing. So that's why I thought that they might go down the "let's try bringing her back" route. If Will finds a method, how likely it is he would not try? If this was traditional Light vs Dark plotline, the final goal would be to defeat the ultimate evil. But now, is it to defeat the ultimate Light? Who would that be? Will is the Dark King, so what are we fighting? Elizabeth? Simon's dad? Some enemy we have not even met yet? I guess Devon will enlighten Will what he has to do now, since he is the oldest and knows everything. Elizabeth is still a baby and she is already pretty exceptional. Imagine if she dedicates herself to getting stronger, learning to use her powers, fighting. She would be deadly. Yes, there might be timeskips in order for Elizabeth to age, in this case. I'm hoping I'm wrong, because I kinda want everyone I like to stay friends :D What I don't understand is: the blood of Will's mother was what supposedly brought back the Dark King, but it's not like Will was born on the day his Mother bled to death? So was he always the Dark King, or did he become him when his mother was murdered? If his mother was not murdered, would he still be reincarnated Dark King?It's really intriguing, I wish the wait until the next book was shorter.

[@JessieJay13]

one of my friends that i badgered into the reading the book so i had someone to scream with pointed out that Katherine's death doesn't follow the same pattern as most!! when the sword killed all the people on Simon's ship, it was like an infection, not anything like the petrification that Katherine experienced. but you know what else is petrified? the Tree Stone in the Hall. the one that the blood of the lady was meant to restore to perfect condition. the one that Elizabeth restored with one touch. what are the odds that Katherine isn't truly dead?? that Elizabeth would be able to resurrect her??

[@quinn7475]

Everything after the steward tragedy was just peak "GIRL YOU THOUGHT" and i could actually not put it down. like, i bought the book going in blind without any knowledge on the series or the author, or even the fact that it was a fruity enemies to lovers slowburn, and i think it made it so much more enjoyable. The shock factor was incredible, and i read it in like almost one sitting

[@Ddalgiichigo]

I love how she writes the pretty boys 🤣 I wasn’t sure about this but James sold it to me 😂

[@michaelisnothere975]

Just finished dark rise yesterday about to start dark heir now

[@shubhangiojha6125]

You are so funny, I finished it two days ago and I was staring into an abyss😭😭😭😭 I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE SECOND BOOK!!!!

[@sydnarrative]

Hopefully it comes out sometime next year! Otherwise we'll be waiting forever 😭

[@shubhangiojha6125]

@@sydnarrative Yeah 😭❤️

[@angelaholmes8888]

I really enjoyed captive prince I read it a few years ago so I just might read dark rise if the library has a copy available

[@Meimoons]

Ooh can you read the "Something like Summer" series? I highly recommend it!

[@sydnarrative]

Ooo I haven't heard of that before, I'll add it to my list! 😊

[@h8rsRurmotivaters]

Umm can we collectively start a Pacat book club and read the next books together and discuss!?

[@sydnarrative]

Oooo good idea, I'll have to do some research now 🤔

[@ahsen8200]

i wanna read it so bad but i can't find it anywhere not even a pdf..

[@antagonisticmedusa]

SPOILERS Okay so i just read this yesterday but english isn’t my 1st language and i’m low-key confused. Are reborns blood related to the people who give birth to them? Does that mean that Will also has the blood of the lady? And does Will’s mother or James’s father know what their children are reborns? 😂😂

[@sydnarrative]

I'm just as confused as you are. It's been awhile since I've read it, but if I remember correctly, I think Will is related to the blood of the lady? Many readers are speculating whether or not Katherine and Will are related

[@melissabartsch9228]

Who is Will coming together with?

[@sydnarrative]

I think James ... but I don't know how they'll form that relationship due to certain reasons

[@tom4115]

SPOILERS - I feel it was a little obvious he was the dark king from the cover of the book lol, but still a very well done twist. I enjoyed this book, a fast, easy read, cool characters like WIll and Violet. Main complaint was too much gay stuff.

[@floraA200]

Not judging your opinion but what do you mean by "too much gay stuff" 💀. And just pointing out, there bearly was any romance between Will and James up until the last few pages which wasn't that hectic (sadly 😔). But anyways, mind telling me pages that contained a lot of "gay stuff" ?

[@tom4115]

​@@floraA200 will and james as you say. violets gay. violets brothers gay. the unicorns gay. the guy that had james' collars gay. justice was definitely gay. bit weird for me, and immersion breaking. I realize a lot of people read these books because they like the gay stuff, and because of the author and all that, but I just read pretty much any/every fantasy book out there. each to their own. just my opinion.

[@akaruchan0297]

@@tom4115 technically we don’t know anyones sexuality except for Will which was confirmed as bisexual and Emery which we know it’s not straight because of his crush for James

[@tom4115]

​@@akaruchan0297 I not dealing with technicalities I just read a book which I enjoyed but it was full of weird gay stuff (call it whatever you like) which I'm not into. I understand the writer is gay or whatever and can do what they want.