Book Review: The Rising – Kelley Armstrong

The Rising
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Darkness Rising #3
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy
Release Date: April 2, 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins

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Summary:

 
First Sentence: I was running through the forest.

My Review:

I am a fan of Kelley Armstrong’s Darkest Powers trilogy and her Darkness Rising trilogy even though there’s one main problem with most of the books in her series: the books don’t exactly have a plot. All everyone does is run around, hide and hope for the best, and then run and hide some more. Despite that, I (surprisingly) still love reading all Kelley Armstrong’s books because the suspense and the feeling of panic she creates just completely draws me in into her books.

“And sensing spells do what exactly?” I said, pretty sure I didn’t want to hear the answer.
“They…sense.” He waved his hand and made a face, like this was a stupid question. “Like radar or heat detectors.” (96)

One problem I had right from the start with The Rising was that there were no recaps on what had happened in the previous two books. I read both The Gathering and The Calling as soon as they both came out and was available in the library to borrow, which is about a year ago. I read so many books a month that it was nearly impossible for me to recall what had happened in the previous two books, especially when I read them both more than a year ago. There were no recaps in The Rising to remind me in what had happened in the previous two books, although The Rising did offer some very small hints throughout the book.

I both love and hate how Kelley Armstrong kept me sitting on the edge of my seat throughout The Rising. My emotions ranged from cursing like crazy to NO NO NO MAYA YOU DID NOT JUST DO THAT to OMG GOOD JOB MAYA! Basically, my emotions were all over the place, worrying and cheering for Maya and her gang. Kelley Armstrong made me really feel for the characters and sympathize with them, hoping that they would all get their happy ending.

My assailant flew off so fast I lay there another moment, frozen in surprise. Then I scrambled up, whipping the pillow to the floor and taking deep, shuddering breaths. (208)

There is a love triangle in The Rising. I rather not say between who because it’ll spoil parts of The Rising for readers, but if you look closely in The Calling, you might just figure out which characters are in the love triangle. The love triangle wasn’t annoying to read about at all, appeared in the last third of the book, and was not the main focus of the book, thank goodness.

The best part of The Rising was being able to see Chloe, Derek, Simon, and Tori again. Derek was his usual overprotective self and Chloe was portrayed differently, more calm and more self assured of herself. It was funny to learn that Dr. Lauren, Chloe’s aunt, hasn’t really changed, which provided some comic relief at a tense moment.

Daniel shook her hand. Derek just stood there, until Chloe prodded him and he shook our hands – not without a grumble, though, a low one, almost like a growl. (299, 300)

And the ending. Like Maya thought, Kelley Armstrong has pretty much given Maya and her friends the best ending they could ever have, but it’s not a complete happily ever after. You’ll have to read the book to get exactly what I mean without me spoiling anything for you.

We had a long road ahead of us, and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. But I had everything I wanted – everything I needed – and I’d get through it just fine. We all would. (406)

Overall, I’m sad to see another one of my favorite series end, although that means that you guys would have another series overview post coming up soon. I’m kind of hoping that Kelley Armstrong will continue writing about the journey of both Chloe and Maya in another spin-off, but I highly doubt that would happen anytime soon.