The Reading Shelf

Everyone has (or at least should have) those books and series that they love no matter what. The Darkness Rising trilogy, as well as its companion trilogy, The Darkest Powers, are some of those books for me. Therefore, this is going to be less of a review and more of a defense for my lack-of-review review.

I think (and hope) that everyone should have at least one book and/or series (although hopefully more than one) that they really love no matter what. They could explain why they love it, but that explanation might be made up partially of statements such as “I love it because it is awesome” and “It is awesome because the story is amazing.” Not exactly good for reviews, but a great way of truly expressing your love of a book, right?

That’s not to say that the books are perfect. They could have awkward patches of dialogue, some less-fleshed-out secondary characters, and some shaky writing, but they’re small, at least to you. I know that The Rising had some small problems, like a huge focus on the romance in parts (which I really enjoyed anyway) and chapters that often end with less of a bang and more of an abrupt cut (which I actually don’t mind, at least in these books). I’m sure you could find plenty of favorable reviews that still point out some problems, but you won’t find much of that here.

I was happy to get the chance to go back into the world of The Darkness Rising, as well as seeing old characters from The Darkest Powers. It was great to get to know some of the characters better as well as their various powers, and it was nice to get some answers. I really enjoyed the ending and the way it left things, especially the way it set things up for more companion series or trilogies. A lot of people lately have been complaining about author Cassandra Clare, who has/is working on about five series, all set in the same universe; many people say that she’s just beating a dead horse to death or whatever that saying is, and though I’ve never read any of her books and don’t know if I would feel differently if I did, I tend to agree. Yet, I wouldn’t mind hearing more from the universe shown in DR and DP. A major difference, for me anyway, is that Kelley Armstrong’s work in this universe doesn’t seem to follow the exact same formula. There are some similarities, sure, but these two trilogies seem different enough. Maybe a few trilogies later I’ll think differently, but as of now I think there’s enough originality in them. I think Armstrong’s next trilogy takes place in a different universe, though, so that might help give a little cooling period before she (hopefully) returns.

Anyway, this was all basically a long way of saying that I really, really loved this book and the series and its companion series. I have fun rereading the past books and look forward to rereading the last one. I rarely see problems with this series, so if you’re looking for a more critical (either in a positive or negative manner) then you’ll have to check a different review, because I have very little I can say about this series other than that I love it.