A review by mrose21
Rising Darkness by Shannon Mayer

4.0

I just about screamed at the ending of this.

I AM SO PUMPED.
I'm not that bothered about the death. Nor am I bothered about the wide spread illness something that if you read previous books you'd know they pretty much predicted.

Before we go into it. READ STITCHED. Its the novella before this book and you need to read it otherwise you'll miss so much. If you skip it you'll start this and wonder what is going on.

What this book didn't do was answer if I should finish the Elemental series first. I kind of think I should as I'll have to spoiler tag this:
Spoiler Its revealed that Lark has helped Rylee and was a friend to her in early life. It was hidden from her by Lark's father and she only remembered when Griffin said Larkspur that she remembered.
but I'm not sure if the final book for the Elemental series will either clear that up OR reveal Rylee's final battle and therefore spoil the last book of this... This is a peeve of mine for series that are intertwined. Its difficult for the author to write these books that don't reveal or spoil the other series for readers BUT keep the context and information in so people don't feel almost lost. I don't think this is done very well by Shannon. If you don't want to have your series so spoilers are shown even accidentally there should be an easy find reading order. I've looked and I can't see one so IDK. I'm going to be pissed if I read the Elemental book next and it ruins it for me!

Anyway off of my rant. I love Rylee in this. You have already seen her mothering side and YOU NEED TO READ STITCHED. To understand why I say that. Although me hinting has probably confirmed what I mean from you all having feelings about what was going on in the last Rylee book I know I had an idea and Stitched confirmed it (A really nice Novella btw)... Rylee is still badass and from what I glimpsed in the Elemental book
Spoiler VERY like her mother and very little IMO of her father) something I really enjoyed
. Rylee is still kicking butt and we see her still fiery temper and often impulsiveness. However she seems wiser. I can't explain it but shes very peaceful in her actions. Her actions make sense and they are logical actions to make in her path.

I can't go into any other characters without spoiling it to anyone that may come across this review. However I like the POV from Pamela. Its very interesting and I enjoy her conflict and character development. I feel like in previous books Pamela although being told she is powerful and you see her use the power sometimes shes still a child and acts very innocent and almost naive. This book shows her really facing the downsides of being treated like a child and protected. She was warned the darkness would take her and she still lets her mind be warped and pulled in different directions. She defiantly improves in my mind during this book even during her bad decisions I found myself liking her as she became Rylee quite a bit.

I remember restarting this series back earlier this year (like Feb but its March now so sh) and Milly and Liam insulting each other while she was pregnant and Rylee noticing how Pamela picked up on traits and was mimicking Milly without realising, and now we're here at this book the book before the big show down and its crazy we've lost so many and we've changed the lasting characters so much their characters have grown and aged even though this book series doesn't seem like it spans many years... Looking forward to #10 and finishing a very good series which is bitter sweet.