Rise by Andrea Cremer

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Atom

Pages: 464pgs

The Story

The sequel to Rift and the prequel to the New York Times bestselling novel Nightshade.

Everything Conatus stands for is at risk. Hoping to gather enough resistance to save their order, Ember and Barrow attempt a desperate escape. But fate offers little mercy. When their mission is exposed, the  couple face relentless pursuit by the supernatural horrors that act on the commands of Eira’s ally: the mysterious Bosque Mar. A shocking revelation forces Ember out of hiding, sending her back into the heart of dark magic at Tearmunn keep, where she must convince her old friend Alistair of her love or face dire consequences. Ember’s deception offers the only chance for the resistance to succeed, but what she discovers in the shadows beneath the keep will shatter her world and bring about the Witches’ War.

Richly sensual and full of magic, action and danger, Andrea Cremer's fifth book set in the Nightshade world is an edge-of-your-seat page turner.

The Review

After loving Rift, the first installment of Andrea Cremer's prequel Nightshade series, even more than the Nightshade series itself, I knew she was going to impress me with her next sequel and she sure did!

What I love most about RISE and with this series is the fact that the mythology, the storytelling, not to mention the origins (ones that somehow connect the dots to the author's previous Nightshade series) are so fascinating and so rich in the details. I mean, it's so easy to get caught up into Cremer's world and loving it immensely in the process. But not only that, but the characters are what makes this series stronger and shine more than they ever did before!

Ember, the main character, is someone I fell in love with from the get-go. I could honestly go on and on about her character! Both passionate in her duty and within herself, headstrong in her beliefs, and fiery in every dangerous mission she partakes in, Ember is someone who has grown up so much within this series (even in two books) and is someone I greatly admire as a main heroine! She just rocks in my books! There's just something about her that readers love and get captivated by, and in the end . . . you always want her to succeed in everything she does so just you wait until you read this sequel . . . she will really, really surprise you! And as for her love interest, Barrow, man oh man . . . I want a piece of that hunky dude! He's so protective and so manly with his romance with Ember . . . I just wanted those two together all through this book! They just belonged together, you know?

The only real complainant I had with this book was the other points-of-view that we get from a variety of characters. Most of them were villains if you would call them 'that'. Yeah . . . I wasn't a big fan of those perspectives except for Alistair's (you know the guy that is so obsessed with Ember but I won't get into that now) who was actually pretty fascinating to read about. Oddly. But apart from his character, the other perspectives didn't do too much for me I'm afraid, mostly because I wanted a Barrow chapter for once . . . he just really needed more lines! I seriously love him.

Overall, RISE delivers a very satisfying sequel with plenty of romantic moments here and there, and not a single dull moment in the fast-paced action sequences. But while that's great and all, I'm still sadden by the end of this sequel as I was recently informed that this series was only going to be a duology so on that part my excitement has been deflated. Still, I love this series . . . GO READ IT!

The Rating

4 1/2 / 5 stars