Review: Rising Son
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 1, 2013
My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars"You're arrogant, ignorant, impetuous, narcissistic, and worst of all, stupid. You sicken me."~Ares, God of War**please note that I did not skip book #3. What is considered the third installment is a very a short read about Christmas on Olympus.**Rising Son gives you absolutely no recovery time.  The introduction is crushing, emotional and heartbreaking. I have to continue my praise for Ms. Darling and her ability to rip the emotion right out of you, the reader. You don't read the intense moments, you live them, whether you want to or not. For me, I find that impressive and even though I gave this installment 3.5 stars, it still remains true that she is exceptionally talented in many, many ways.While Rising Son is a continuation of Raven's journey, the reader is gifted with a new standout that captivated me from the beginning and held true throughout...Baby RosePrecious baby Rose suffered more in her first couple hours of life than anyone should have to suffer for the entire length of theirs. Born extremely premature, for reasons I'll let you, the reader, discover on your own, it seemed as though she didn't stand a chance. In the eyes of the Olympians, she is a disgrace, an abomination and an embarrassment. Due to their shaded views and monumentous arrogance, they cannot see beyond her physical deformities and and cognitive delays. With her mother fighting for her own life, struggling to return to her family while her body lays still, she is ridiculed, abused and simply tossed aside by her relatives and Rose is much, much more than they give her credit for and joining Rose on her little journey is both heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. One thing is certain, she will steel your heart. Ares and Rose...just, yeah.Raven. I just...I cannot wrap my brain around this kid and his actions. Don't get me wrong, he shows signs of redemption in this installment but I have yet to warm up to him. Each time I felt a tinge of redemption coming forth, he would say something or do something, or SOMEONE and then just like that, I was back to loathing him. It isn't his arrogance or even the chip on his shoulder really. For me, it's his utter lack of respect for the women in his life. His view of his own mother, how he treats her, talks to her, it's nothing short of disgusting. Only a mothers love I guess cause me, personally, I've had enough and so has Ares...finally. Do not get me started on his actions where Trinity and Rose are concerned. And now, his destruction goes well beyond Olympus, what is unfolding in the mortal world below is nothing short of shocking. Is there anything he isn't capable of?I'm not sure there's anything the Olympians can do at this point that will shock or disgust me any more than they already have. They are my ultimate guilty pleasure. When Hera began salivating at the idea of being sandwhiched between her son and her grandson...wow. So why 3.5 stars? In Rising Son, Raven begins his Trials in his effort to become a true Olympian. There were some interesting revelations during his trials, revelations that opened up the storyline further. That being said, I felt his trials went on a little too long, names and places I could barely pronounce, it just seemed a bit much. I found myself reading faster just to get back to what was going on in Olympus. More editing is needed. There are typos, which can happen so I didnt make too big of a deal out of those but words missing, him when it should say her or vice versa.  I had some confusion in regards to a sex scene involving multiple partners. I thought Apollo was first but then it switched to Eros. There was another side character mentioned that I thought had died previously. Could be my mistake, I tried going back to clarify but I couldn't find it. Unfortunately, such issues can take away from the reading experience. Even so, I can't wait for book #5, Rising Son ends with quite the cliffhanger!