Another excellent installment in the Rhenwars Saga. Spencer’s writing just gets better with every book. In the third chapter of the Rhenwars Saga, the characters that we’ve invested in continue to evolve, and the world-shaking conflict develops in new and terrifying ways. If you love high-stakes fantasy in a morally gray universe, you’re in for a treat!

What stood out to me as outstanding in this book was the pacing. I flew through it, never feeling as if one story thread was less compelling than another, never getting bogged down in any of the pitfalls that can often make a book feel as if it’s dragging. Everything is woven together in such a way that mysteries and conflicts pile one atop another until you realize that you’ve reached the climactic conclusion without any waver in the galloping pace.

It is a bit of a juggling act, making demons’ motivations feel just, and presenting servants of hell as love interests.  There are a few reactions/assumptions that feel a little contrived or contorted in this regard. In order to make the story work there were a few elements in which character thoughts and emotions didn’t feel 100% genuine to me. In the same vein, there is a point at which Kyel Archer does something that should obviously be immediately attributed to him, but to facilitate the story line, the obvious conclusion is postponed for a more advantage moment in the narrative. Still, these few moments didn’t spoil the story. I still very much enjoyed it.

The setting and worldbuilding is always a highlight in the Rhenwars Saga. Spencer has done a phenomenal job of creating a rich world, with a history that lives off the page. The factions have a depth of history, custom, visual distinctiveness that lends them the authenticity every fantasy series needs.

The relationship budding between Naia and Quin isn’t compelling for me. While Quin is an interesting and unique character, Naia has had a love story with Darien, a flirtation with Kyel, and now a love story with Quin. It makes it feel like she is just getting paired up with whoever is convenient, regardless of any chemistry. Romantic relationships in genre fiction often feel flat or forced to me. It takes a lot of real estate to pull off the intricacies of human attachment in a convincing way. But over the course of the second and third  novels in the series, Spencer has built up a dynamic between Azar and Darien. It’s a slow build that is interesting because it isn’t your typical story about falling madly in love. They are both wounded people, struggling to find a way to trust one another, and it makes for a more interesting dynamic than most genre love stories.

Overall, Darkrise is another good installment in the Rhenwars series. If you’ve enjoyed the first two books of the saga, you’ll tear through this one in short order. If you haven’t started this series yet, sorry for the spoilers, but get cracking on book one, you’ll love it.

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