Novel Review: The Rising (Darkness Rising, #3) by Kelley Armstrong

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Genre: YA Supernatural/Paranormal Romance

Publisher: HarperCollins/Teen

Publish Date: April 2nd, 2013

Spoilers?: Minor/Vague.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis (may contain spoilers!):

Things are getting desperate for Maya and her friends. Hunted by the powerful St. Clouds and now a rival Cabal as well, they're quickly running out of places to hide. And with the whole world thinking they died in a helicopter crash, it's not like they can just go to the authorities for help.

All they have is the name and number of someone who might be able to give them a few answers. Answers to why they're so valuable, and why their supernatural powers are getting more and more out of control.

But Maya is unprepared for the truths that await her. And now, like it or not, she'll have to face down some demons from her past if she ever hopes to move on with her life. Because Maya can't keep running forever.

Old secrets are revealed and unexpected characters make a surprising return in this stunning conclusion to Kelley Armstrong's New York Times bestselling Darkness Rising trilogy.

Something Specific:

Quotes!:

• "I'm not sure which was more condescending--calling us kids or thinking we'd respond better if they humored our delusions of maturity." (Maya's thought when a guy calls them children, then amends it to young adults.) (Hardback, pg. 184) I knew exactly how she felt just there, and I'm sure a lot of other teenagers do, too.
• "If it was love, why was it so complicated? Shouldn't I just be able to turn to one, and say, 'It's you. I want you.'" (I ommited a tiny bit of one line to avoid spoilers, just so you know.) (Hardback, pg. 386-387) I just liked her sentiment on it, honestly.

What Will I Miss?:

• I'm going to miss all of the characters, both from this series and the previous one. All of their relationships, particularly the ones with the parents.
• I'm going to miss the romance between the main characters.
• I'm going to miss the twists, even if some of them were expected--pretty much what Armstrong did with the series, while I wait for whatever she releases next. 

 

Review:

This was a very satisfying ending to this series, even more satisfying than I thought it would be.

Some things happened in this book that I wasn’t expecting, some of which I definitely should have thought about but hadn’t. Pretty much all of which were good. The characters from Armstrong's first YA series, Darkest Powers, showed up, although they showed up later than I thought/hoped they would. Either way, it was very nice to see them again. And it was nice to see how all of the characters acted around each other.

The ending for all of the subjects, the agreement that they all decided on, was something that I wasn’t really expecting, but something that I’m very happy about. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I thought that it worked really well, and fit very well for all of them.

The romance also took a turn that I wasn’t expecting. Usually it’s very obvious from the beginning where the romance is going, who the main love interest is, but for me it wasn’t here. And I really liked how it ended. It fits better, makes more sense, and is generally just very nice. From the first book, it looked like it was going to be one person, in the second book I was a little conflicted although still sure it was going toward one person, and then somewhere in this book, I was starting to think that maybe I was wrong. And I was. But it turned out even better than I was expecting, and I’m really happy with how that happened.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but I’m just really happy with how things turned out. For all of the characters, for the romance, for the parents. For everyone.

I want to gush a bit about what happened, but I’ve decided not to spoil anything, so I’m just going to have to stop there.

Now that this series is over, though, and this book had a pretty definite, non-cliffhanger ending, I’m really wondering what Armstrong has planned next. I hope she’s working on something else YA, or at least planning to, sometime soon. Whatever it is, though, I’m sure to pick it up. Until then, I’m probably going to have to catch up on her Women of the Otherworld series, seeing as how I’ve only read two of the books, and there are a lot more than that out.

The Cover:

I'm not a very big fan of the covers for this series. They're just not very exciting, or eye-catching to me. And they all look much too similar, as are the titles, in that's it's very easy to get confused as to which book is which in the series. Embarrassing Factor isn't very high, though, I don't think.