ARC/Buddyread Review: As The Shadow Rises by Katy Rose Pool

Hi Blisses,

So I’m ending my blog hiatus next week. I couldn’t decide if I should come back as a self-hosted blog and with new face but I figured I should at least reacquaint myself to blogging first and to my followers before introducing a new look. So I decided to end my hiatus here and then turn self-hosted on October. I’m so excited to come back and I have lots of news to share.

OK, now let’s get on with my review, which is what this post for.

TITLE: As the Shadow Rises
BY: Katy Rose Pool
SERIES: The age of Darkness #2
GENRE: Fantasy, Young Adult
PUBLICATION: September 2nd 2020 by Orbit
NOTE: A big thanks to Orbit by granting me an e-copy of this book via Netgalley. This doesn’t affect my opinions regarding the book.

BLURB

The Last Prophet has been found, yet he sees destruction ahead.

In this sequel to the critically-acclaimed There Will Come a Darkness, kingdoms have begun to fall to a doomsday cult, the magical Graced are being persecuted, and an ancient power threatens to break free. But with the world hurtling toward its prophesized end, Anton’s haunting vision reveals the dangerous beginnings of a plan to stop the Age of Darkness.

As Jude, Keeper of the Order of the Last Light, returns home in disgrace, his quest to aid the Prophet is complicated by his growing feelings for Anton. Meanwhile, the assassin known as the Pale Hand will stop at nothing to find her undead sister before she dies for good, even if it means letting the world burn. And in Nazirah, Hassan, the kingdom-less Prince, forms a risky pact to try to regain his throne. When the forces of light and darkness collide in the City of Mercy, old wounds are reopened, new alliances are tested, and the end of the world begins.

REVIEW

First of all, it is important to mention that I haven’t reviewed book 1 yet and that this review will have spoilers from book 1. Just like book 1, I buddyread As The Shadow Rises with Susan, Maddie and Becky. Please look out for my future post about activities I acquired during quarantine because buddyreading is certainly one of them. Anyway, I enjoyed book 1 but I can say, I enjoyed book 2 even more.

As The Shadow Rises starts right after the events of book 1, There Will Come a Darkness, which pleased me immensely because book 1 really left me with so many feelings. I want to share the discussion I had with my reading buddies because it will show how invested I was in the characters. Ugh, the feelings I had for them, different for each because not all of them made me happy but that doesn’t mean they’re not well-written characters.

The author, the amazing Katy Rose Pool definitely did a good job at letting her characters shine in their own way, that I enjoy reading even the chapters of my non-favorite characters. It was like I couldn’t let any single moment in the story pass me by because it feels like a big part of the story will be lost on me. That said, this book leans more as character-driven. But still, the plot is amazing. It’s very well-crafted and filled with intense actions. The twists made me wide-eyed too and that’s saying a lot because my reading buddies and I have managed to guess some of them, still they surprised me. By the way, I need to share that this book is a bit hard for buddyreading because, like I said, it’s filled with intense actions, that it’s so hard to stop reading. So many things are happening in every chapter that I want to keep going. Through each character, more is revealed about the world and the magic system. It’s amazing to realize that there is still SO MUCH about the world that I don’t know.

As the Shadow Rises is told in multiple POVs so the readers gets to see what’s happening in each of the main characters and I love it that some of the characters who I thought didn’t get enough spotlight in book 1, I got more from them in this book. Like Beru, who after that events in the last part of the book is probably first in my list of characters I’m excited for in book 3. So many things have happened to Anton and Jude as well, individually and together. Since book 1, Anton isn’t too happy being the last prophet and Jude is too set to follow his supposed destiny as a protector of Anton. The two of them really underwent the biggest character development. And I definitely love their moments together. They’re the sweetest to each other and my heart almost couldn’t take it. Obviously, there’s something going on between them. As for Hassan, he was never a favorite character of mine but at least, here, I saw him taking more actions than whining. Then of course, there’s Ephyra. My feeling for Ephyra’s character is what surprised me the most. After what she did in the last part of book 1, all I could think of was it will be too hard for her redemption, but somehow, after reading book 2, my resentment towards her lessens. I also like her journey in this book, as my reading buddy Susan said, it gives an Indiana Jones vibe. It’s that intense. I guess it really does her good to be away from her sister physically.

There are also lots of things that happened to the side characters that held my interest and evoked strong emotions from me. There’s Illya, who I like more in this book despite his actions in book 1. As for the other side characters, I won’t name them to avoid spoilers but there are two female side characters who really pissed me off. Another guy character who freakin’ surprised me, I even tweeted about it, which I don’t usually do when I’m readin. There are also new characters introduced and all of them are very important to the story.

Speaking of the new characters, the events in the last quarter of the book are a lot, both in positive and negative way. Positive because wow!!! All those revelations, twists and happenings really made me glued to my Kindle. Negative because even though I think all those new characters are important and it makes sense that they are part of the story, still it’s a lot to take. And so many things happened that the ending felt rushed to me.

RATING: 4 blissful pages with lilies

Despite my issue on the last part of the book, I really enjoyed As the Shadow Rises. This is one of the best middle books of a series that I’ve ever read. usually, middle books are just fillers but this one isn’t. This is even better than book 1. I highly recommend this book to EVERYONE.

BUDDYREAD QUESTIONS (because my reading buddies insist. 😀 )

What would your Grace be?

The Grace of Sight. I wouldn’t mind scrying. I can imagine the things, the people I can find with my Grace.

What would happen to your Grace on PMS?

Ahm…I might hunt down some people!!!

If you liked… You will like As the Shadow Rises

I’m really bad at this…so just look at my reading buddies suggestions. head over at Maddie, Susan and Becky’s blogs.

LINKS

First of all, I prefer the UK cover so when I buy a physical copy, (when Philippines accept parcels and packages from other country again) I’ll buy this one…

Amazon.com: buy it HERE.
Add it on GOODREADS!!!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Katy is a writer living in Berkeley, California. She grew up in Los Angeles, where her screenwriter father taught her about three act structure, characterization, and inciting incidents all before she could tie her shoes. Katy studied history and English at UC Berkeley. She enjoys breakfast sandwiches, fancy cocktails, rooting for the Golden State Warriors, and books that set her on fire.

Twitter | Website

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Have you read this book? Or planning to? What do you think of it? Let’s chat.