I kinda wanted to give this 3 stars because there were two things I didn't like about it, but it was also better than the first two, so I think that evens it out into four stars.

The first thing that bothered me was the romance, because I do not like how that played out at all. It was predictable and boring, and I especially hated how Maya had to be told by everyone around her who she really liked. Yes, she gave herself plenty of time to consider it before making a decision, but even so.

And she did not end up with Sam, so that was bullshit.

The second thing was the end of the book, it felt a bit rushed. Not that it was bad or anything, but it randomly introduced a whole bunch of new characters (I know they're from the other series, but since I haven't read that it felt random to me) and to get there I feel long parts were just skipped over. Before that we've gotten a rather detailed explanation of everything, but here we got summarize if even that. As I was reading and had a hundred pages left I was very confused about how anything would be resolved.

That's not to say I didn't like how it ended, because I did. I just feel that if you look at all three novels as a whole, the pacing was just a bit off. Maybe there should have been a fourth book or something, I'm not really sure.

That said, the series as a whole is great and I will definitely read the other series that came before this. ( )

2:18:30 ( )

The Rising is the final book in the Darkness Rising series. After reading all three books in the series, I really think it could have all been edited down into one book and it might have been a little better. I did enjoy the story, but the ending felt a little anticlimactic to me. Armstrong really painted herself into a corner because of the way the events of the story were built and the development of the issues the characters faced. However, the emotions were high in the story and the ending was satisfying. ( )

I'm three quarters through and I really don't like Rafe... ( )

I didn't like this trilogy. The story kind of dragged, the second book sucked and this book felt unsatisfying. The pay off wasn't worth the read. Not a bad book just not at all good. ( )