I loved There Will Come A Darkness so much but I had put off reading the sequel because I was scared for my faves. They already suffered so much but I knew they would suffer more 😭

Well, I finally read it and I loved the sequel but yes, my faves did in fact suffer 😭

This book follows a group of characters who are pushed together because of a prophecy and their unique abilities.
They all have their own priorities and agendas but are also for ed to work together at times too and I love each and every one of them.

Hassan is my baby and I will protect him with my life. I love Jude & Anton’s arc in this story but the most interesting arc was Beru and Ephyra. I was absolutely not expecting those plot twists when it came to the sisters!

This book is fast paced and despite seeing several points of view, I never got confused between them as each has such distinct personalities and I loved seeing them grow and deal with the consequences of the events from the first book.

This book ends on a cliffhanger and now I am well and truly terrified of reading the last book. I just hope they all make it 😭

This was a fun continuation of the story that began in There Will Come a Darkness. However, for some reason it just took me months to get through this. I just kept finding excuses to read other things, and I'm still not quite sure why. But overall I did enjoy the continuation of the character arcs, and the direction the plot is going. I'm interested to see how all these plot threads can be resolved in the finale.

Part of a compelling trilogy. There are many epic journeys in each part of the trilogy by different combinations of the ensemble of young protagonists.

One of the things I loved the most about THERE WILL COME A DARKNESS was the feeling that it was a book filled with classic fantasy tropes brought into the modern day. AS THE SHADOW RISES continues to follow that vibe, this time with quests for objects and the true history of the world being revealed. This series is really filling my wish for more classic fantasy-esque books.

I've been noticing this year that I am getting pickier about the sorts of multi-POV books I like. This series has POVs that are pretty separate for a lot of the book, in different locations and some - like Hassan's - aren't really affecting anyone else until the end, which is usually a bad sign for me.

However, they were linked. Ephyra is trying to save Beru, Anton and Jude are together. And then, particularly in the second half of the book, they are all pursuing a group of objects, which made it obvious that they were going to draw together. This combined with their place in the prophecy and how their goals were in opposition meant that it didn't feel like five different story lines that are shoved together at the end. Instead, they are five pieces of a larger story that are unavoidably bound.

There are a lot of romantic pairings in this book. Some work out, others don't. However, Anton and Jude's relationship was the best of the lot, the one I was actually interested in seeing come together (I'm not much of a shipper; romances tend to be the least interesting bit of a book for me). Yet with these two, the way the tension and conflict had been written made it irresistible to look away from.

As soon as the true history of the world started to be revealed, and the characters were all seeking the Relics, I had a hope for what might happen in the finale. I guess I semi got that wish (OK, mine was a bit unrealistic for the direction books take, which was why I'd made it!) and I'm now excited to see how the trilogy ends next year.

I enjoyed this second installment in the series very much and thought that it did a great job setting up for the finale while also tying up enough plot threads to feel like a satisfying narrative in its own right. I thought that a lot of impressive character work was done in this book, with the story seeming to focus more closely on Ephyra and Anton and their individual battles to come to terms with their Graces. The world here continues to be a fascinating one, and we were provided with a lot more history about the Prophets, along with a treasure hunt of sorts to locate four relics. Towards the end of the book, I felt like the narrative felt a little bit rushed, with reveal after reveal creating a sense of information overload, but it has left me eager to read the next book. Overall, I think this is a well crafted series and this second book does a lot to move the narrative forward in some interesting directions.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Five very enthusiastic stars. I adored There Will Come a Darkness, and liked As the Shadow Rises equally as much if not more. I'm always nervous about a second book in a trilogy, but this one was even better than I'd hoped it would be and I can't wait for the third and final book.

In the first book, the main characters slowly came together (after several near misses) only to fall apart once more. In this book, they ended up in different pairs, all working towards seemingly different ends. Again, they slowly circled around one another until finally meeting for the climax (and splitting apart and coming together in some very confusing ways).

I loved Jude and Anton in this book - they were my favorite characters. Anton's easy charm and tendency to gamble and flirt for what he needs played well against Jude's painful earnestness. As Anton gained faith in himself, Jude lost his faith in what he'd always assumed his life would be. Also the push/pull of their attraction made for exciting reading.

Ephyra is the character I had the hardest time liking in book 1, and I felt that again here. She's so ready to kill, so unwilling to trust others... she makes a good foil for Ilya's manipulative personality. They're both the least likeable of this cast of characters, and yet they bring out the hidden good qualities in one another and make one another more sympathetic.

Behru and Hector have this weird love/hate push/pull thing going, but have had the least development over both books and I'm not sure I feel like I really know them.

I'm still not entirely sure what I think of Hassan. He has a good heart I think, and the urge to protect his people, but he also lies far too easily for me to trust him.

I was disappointed that we didn't see much of Lethia. I was hoping she would own her stolen throne, but she was hardly there. I definitely enjoyed seeing more of the Nameless Woman, however, which made up for it.

I'm so into where the author has chosen to lead her characters, and after that ending I cannot wait to see how the group - now split in two again because of course - comes together to bring down the Heirophant and the risen god. I have a feeling it's going to be epic, with a lot more information to be revealed.

Final Rating: 4.5 Stars

Thank you so much to Little Brown UK and Netgalley for opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

As the Shadow Rises is a fantastic sequel to Pool's debut, There Will Come A Darkness. I am sure most readers have experienced that middle book slump. Too often there is a great start to a trilogy that is followed up by a lackluster sequel. No one can accuse Pool of struggling with this. This book is unputdownable from the beginning all the way through to the crazy last chapters.

In this sequel, we continue to follow the same five characters as their story arcs intertwine. The biggest complaint I saw about There Will Come A Darkness was that there were too many main characters and points of view to follow. While this is a negative aspect for some, it is one of the reasons I love this series. Pool's decision to weave multiple characters' storylines together not only gives us the satisfaction of seeing how they all overlap but allows her to flesh out the world she has created way beyond what just one or two POVs would.

Ephyra's chapters throw us into the hunt for the chalice, which could potentially save her sister's life. At the end of the previous book, Beru left, telling Ephyra not to follow her. I think it was a great decision to separate the sisters. Ephyra was one of my least favorite characters in the previous book. No matter how many times she insisted she did the horrible things for Beru, it was clear that it was truly because she feared being alone if Beru died. Without her sister, Ephyra is forced to find out who she is on her own, and I loved it. Her chapters were some of the ones I looked forward to most.

When we see Beru for the first time in this book, she is trying to live out her final days atoning for the lives that her sister has taken to ensure Beru's suurvial. Therefore, she spends her time tending the wounds of injured fighters at a fighting pit. That is until the plot twist that happens in chapter three. I can't discuss Beru's chapters much without spoiling them, but I loved seeing her on her own just as much as I did with Ephyra. Unfortunately, Beru got the least amount of chapters, just like in the last book. All I am saying is that after that ending, Beru better get her fair share of chapters in the final book of the trilogy.

Hassan's portion of the book was the most disappointing. His plotline feels pretty generic and has aspects that didn't add up logically for me. He also feels disconnected from the other characters, who all have strong ties to one another. I genuinely like Hassan as a character and hope to see him given more depth and importance to the story in the final book.

Jude and Anton have to be discussed together for obvious reasons. At the beginning of the book, they both start out confused. Jude because he has lost his Grace, his sword, and might lose his position as Keeper of the Word. And Anton is still processing that he is the prophet. Jude and Anton are often together, resulting in their plotline getting a lot of "page-time." This left me annoyed with Jude's chapters. Since they were together and I like Anton's POV better, I wanted to hear from him instead. Plus, I'm sorry, but Jude felt so whiny to me in this book.

In the cast of side characters, there are a few familiar faces and a few new ones. When it comes to the old ones, I definitely had a change of heart on a few, for better or for worse. I love how Pool keeps developing her characters, which keeps my opinions continuously changing.

The plot is fast-paced and ends with a bang. A crazy amount happens in the final chapters. While some of my fellow "buddy-readers" thought it was too much, it was great to me. I loved seeing all the big reveals and everything coming together.

Overall, I loved this book. It has minor flaws (hence the half star reduction), but it is one of the best YA fantasy series I have read. I highly recommend it.

You can also find this review on my blog - Mad's Books (to be posted on September 12, 2020).

As the Shadow Rises is a great follow up to There Will Coem a Darkness filled with just as much action, adventure, prophecy and angst.

In this book we are following the same characters as the first book as they find out for both about the prophets and the relics that they created/founded the Graces with (the Grace's are a kind of power in this world). We also have some historical figures in the world that come back to being players. Sidenote: I always love when powerful figures from the past come back to interact with our current characters, like do we trust them? what do they want? it's one of my favourite tropes and it was woven so well into this book.

The characters and their interactions is my favoruite thing about this series, for most of this book the characters are seperated into pairs and holyyy shit were there some good interactions!!!!!!!! (some unexpected and some not!!)

Jude/Anton - I feel like these two with the main (?) characters in this, at least they had the most page time and I was very invested in them!! Juse is very conflicted about his duties regarding teh order of the last light and his feelings towards Anton and honestly his arc throughout this book was my favoruite thing, watching him grow into this confident character and realising what his true purpose was, as well has realise that denying who he is/what he wants isn't doing him any good. I also love Anton, he is a great compliment to Jude and very likeable. I also liked his struggle with how he just wants to feel safe uwu. I was also very invested in their blooming romance and there were so many angsty scenes where I was just screaming at them both!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ephyra/Ilya - this is one duo I was not expecting but I loved their interactions so much!!!!!! seriously if you like enemies to enemies romance with such juicy conversations and just ahhh i loved their dynamic. Ephyra is also struggling with feeling like a monster and wonders about the lengths she will go to to protect her sister. The only thing I wish we had a more of was Ilya/Anton interactions because I love complex sibling dynamics but hopefully we will see more of that in book 3 as they were apart for a lot of this book.

Beru/Hector - this was another pairing I was not really expecting but was also suprisingly cute with how sweet they were with each other, I also felt like their plotline was one of the most interesting, especially the stuff towards the end in the desert. and berus ending!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wow

Hassan - I think Hassans plotline was the one that interested me least, partly because I feel like he was more relevant in book 1 and we had the least time with him, but I do really like his character an some of the choices he made in this book made me so proud of him!!!! I feel like he has a lot of potential as a character (that wasn't entirely utlisied in this book) so hopefully he gets his chance to shine in book 3!!

My only criticism of this book really was the ending felt a little rushed/everything happened b=very quickly, I especially would have liked more inteactions between SPOILER (kind of?) pallas and the necromancer king.
But the ending had me so intruguied for book 3!
Overall if you are looking for a fun new YA fantasy series to get into that feels classic but also refreshing I would highly reccomend this series!

I read and enjoyed the first book and o was excited to see where it went next. I enjoyed this book and I’m glad I requested it. The plot itself is gripping and I enjoyed reading the storylines. There are multiple povs in this book which is a little confusing at first and I wish I reread the first book before going into this so I could enjoy it more and understand where the story starts and what every character is doing because I forgot so much of the first book. I liked the characters and I enjoyed reading about them, although I was disappointed in the villains.
The worldbuilding was good and I liked the magic system. I loved seeing more of the world and I loved the diversity.
Overall I liked this book but I wasn’t as invested in it as I was the first book.

I was approved to feedback on this book on the archive date, so I did not have the time to read it before it is archived, therefore I will start by giving it 3 stars and update my review when I finish reading it on the weekend.

There Will Come a Darkness is an astounding debut, but As the Shadow Rises exceeds all my expectations for this series.

Last year, I have reviewed Book 1 and I am so thankful for Orbit for the advance copy of this sequel. There Will Be a Darkness is an underrated series that everyone should read. The premise and especially the characters are what make this series astounding and interesting.

As the Shadow Rises takes place after the aftermath of the events of There Will Come a Darkness. I will try to make it a non-spoiler with my review and takes as much information that makes this a 4-star book for me.

Anton, Hassan, Jude, Ephyra, and Beru lived after the attack of the Hierophant and his so-called Witnesses. Everyone is intertwined with the Prophecy, that the Age of Darkness will come and one of them is the bringer of this desolation.

Katy Rose Pool manages to make the stakes in these books higher and this brings out the character development of her characters in the stories. The whole concept of the story was so interesting. I think Pool's strongest attribute in her stories was her characters. Each character shines differently. You may hate or love them but you can't resist being drawn with these well-written character development.

There Will Come A Darkness introduces these Graces.

Grace of Heart: enhances the strength, agility, speed, and senses
The grace of Blood: gives and takes energy to heal or harm
The grace of Mind: creates objects imbued with unique properties
The grace of Sight: senses and locates living beings

As the Shadow Rises introduces the Relics in which these Graces were made and Anton, Hassan, Ephyra, and Beru should look for these things to prevent the coming of darkness.

The story revolves around a prophecy in which certain people will stop the Age of Darkness by completing and acquiring the Relics in which Grace was based upon. In this world, not all people possess Graces. People with these abilities are killed, imprisoned, and subdued using the so-called Godfire. The Hierophant and his witnesses acquired Godfire that takes away grace from a person. They believed that having Grace is a disgrace and an abomination that bring forth darkness to the whole kingdom.

I might say that there is a certain relationship with specific characters which I am shocked and didn't see it coming.

This is a dark and gritty page-turner sequel. I might say it again, this series is so underrated and I would love to recommend this series!

I loved rejoining these characters, especially the multiple POVs that Katy does so well, I was so made up to receive an E-ARC as I loved the first book so much. This book joins the characters right where we left them at the end of There will come a darkness and jumps right back into the action. The world building from Katy is just amazing, along with her writing style, I just love it. I love how Katy slowly reveals things through the characters and book as we go, it’s so good, the book is fast paced and addictive reading. Each character even the lesser ones are well developed with their own unique voice and journeys. This doesn’t suffer from second book syndrome at all, in fact I would say I enjoyed it even more than the first book, I really need the best now as I need to know what will happen to my babies, let’s face it I need to know what happens to the characters That aren’t my favourites too. Highly recommended read, and if you haven’t read There Will Come A Darkness’s jump right into it now, you won’t regret it

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

We rejoin Anton, Hassan, Jude, Beru and Ephyra in this book, starting where the first installment left off.

Just like with the first one, I found the plot interesting and the concept was great but the multiple POV made this so hard to read! It felt like a slog at times, I kept having to 'push through' and struggling to keep everything straight in my head. 3.5 stars.

I liked the first instalment in this series and loved this one.
It's fast paced, gripping and highly entertaining.
I loved the amazing world building, the well thought characters and the plot that kept me hooked.
There's huge number of characters and I found all of them interesting.
It's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

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, as 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 reading. 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.

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.

The way this series lives in my head rent free.

Every aspect of this book was strong. The characters? Amazing. The plot? Incredible. The world building? Brilliant.

I was never bored, and although I liked some characters more that others, I was still interested in all of them. The way the different characters and their storylines merge together is just wonderful.

I can't recommend this series enough. Please pick it up.

As the Shadow Rises picks up straight after the events of There Will Come a Darkness; Jude has found the last prophet in the least likely person, and after being attacked by the Godfire has no access to his Grace. He is constantly questioning his ability to lead, something which is not helped by his growing feelings for Anton; Anton has been sheparded away by the Order of the Last Light, unable to see the one person in the Order he trusts. He's still not sure he is the 'last prophet'and will have to prove it before the order before they will believe Jude's claims; Ephyra is in search of the Chalice of Eleazar knowing that it is the only way to save Beru and maybe her once chance at redemption. But there are other people searching for it too and she will have to decide if her need for the Chalice outweighs her lack of trust; Beru knows her time is short now that she has cut ties with her sister, no longer allowing her to kill to further Beru's life. She goes searching for a way to repent for the lives that have been taken in her name and finds the unlikeliest of allies along the way; Hassan, Khepri and his fellow countrymen are playing rebels, fighting the Witnesses when they attempt to take away the Graced. One night they happen upon a real rebellion, but the person in charge isn't Hassan's biggest fan and they will come to loggerheads over how the country should be ruled. What none of them realise is the paths they are on are linked, they are bound to each other and when they finally do meet, the fate of the world will hang in the balance of their actions.

The characters are definitely this series' strongest point. I love me a morally grey MC and this book has them in spades. Not a single one of the characters is a traditionally good guy... they all have a little red in their ledger one way or another, and this makes for an intriguing and twist filled read. The characters I liked in book one weren't necessarily my favourites in book two, partly down to the choices they made and partly because of the authors amazing writing. We know these characters are meant to be the good guys, meant to save the world... or damn it. But the journey they go on to get there is a long one, filled with some truly terrible decisions and some truly brilliant ones. You struggle to guess the journey each character will take, never quite knowing who you will like from one chapter to the next and I enjoyed the amount of WTF moments the author puts us through with them. That being said, we are introduced to a new character in this book that I found to be completely pointless to the storyline. They added no to little new information, and honestly I feel like the MC could have followed their storyline without the addition of said character with very little deviation from the story as is.

One thing As the shadow Rises doesn't lack in is adventure and excitement. We are following the MC's on a continent wide journey filled to the brim with Indiana Jones style moments that have you on the edge of your seat. There were moments where I was gripping my kindle so tightly my knuckles were white, the stakes are definitely high. Each character has their own journey, their own stake, but what they don't realise until the end, thanks to the brilliance of Pool's writing, is their paths are destined to cross, all of their journeys were meant to lead to each other, to a specific moment. And once we hit that part of the book, well all hell breaks loose and we get an unforgettable ending.

If you enjoy a richly built world, then this is definitely a series to check out. We travel from corner to corner of the continent the author has created. She brings the different customs and ways of life to life, and you get effortlessly swept away on the differing journeys our characters make. We all had so many guesses as to how the ARC of this story would turn out, who was the bad guy, what was such and such's master plan etc, and I'm happy to say we nailed it with one or two but if this author is good at anything it is making her plot points virtually impossible to guess. We threw out idea after idea but absolutely no one came close to guessing the ending. Pool leaves no stone unturned in this book. Don't get me wrong, it ends on one hell of a cliffhanger, that once again made me annoyed at reading an ARC and having so long to wait for the sequel, but we get answers to a lot of questions that the ending to There Will Come a Darkness left us with, and I think gives us a better understanding of where the story is going as a whole.

My one nit pick with this was that a lot happened at the ending, almost too much in my opinion. I found myself having to re read portions of it because I would get to a bit and be like...what?!?We get a lot of information in those final pages and I just think it could have been spread out a little bit more. But, like I said, that was definitely me nit picking. I loved the book as a whole. We see new sides to a lot of the characters, some good and some bad, and we learn an awful lot more about the prophecy that ties them all together. I think I can speak for us all when I say we are eager to get our hands on book three and find out whats going to happen to our faves!

As the Shadow Rises is a phenomenal book! I was completely engrossed in the world within only a few pages, even though I it's been a while since I read the first.

There is a huge cast of characters in this book, so I expected to have trouble following all the different story lines. However, they are woven so well and each character has such a distinct voice that it was actually no trouble at all.

The world building is brilliant and I love the magic system. The plot is fast paced and all the different strands start to come together to a jaw dropping finale ... Now if only the third book would hurry up and be available!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

An epic sequel to the There will come a Darkness. Multiple POV books can be difficult because invariably one or more will not resonate with a reader but that was not the case here. This was tightly plotted and fast paced right up until the reveal I never saw coming. Can’t wait for book three.

This was an amazing sequel to a book I already really enjoyed. My gays are thriving, the end is driving me insane and honestly I cannot wait for book two to come out. If you enjoyed book one, then this one will be just right for you.