Promise of Darkness (Dark Court Rising Book 1)

I've read everything Bec McMaster has written and it was a surprise to me that I have not been able to finish this book. I like her London Steampunk series and its offshoots the best, and thought her three other series got better as they went along, but I have serious problems with this book and am struggling to finish it. I don't want to leave a mean-spirited review, but I do want to warn readers about some of the issues with this book before they decide to purchase it.Basically, it feels like this book began life as a short story written in the third person that McMaster decided to expand into a full-length story in the first-person, present tense, without fully committing to the editorial work required to make the shift. The result is a bit of a mess - especially if grammatical issues and plot inconsistencies are a concern for you. I know that not all readers in the romance genre care about such things, but they drive me nuts and the issues on both these fronts constantly took me out of the story. In particular, the occasional slippage into third person, past tense made for a frustrating and confusing read, especially when combined with the constant mixing up of words (behest vs. bequest; inflated vs. conflated, etc., etc). The minor inconsistencies in the plot also bothered me no end (each time she finds herself responding to Thiago is treated as if it hasn't happened before, so the reader gets a constant sense of deja vu). Add the lack of character growth in Vi's character (she makes a decision, then waivers, makes a decision, then waivers) and the vaguely derivative feel of the story and I found myself starting to skip large tracts before giving up entirely about 70% of the way through.Based on the reviews so far, I'm sure some readers will love this book, but if you demand more from the books you read in terms of writing and plotting, you might want to read a free sample before committing to purchase it.

"A fairytale twist inspired by the Hades and Persephone myth."wow, way to pull me in, blurb! Didn't leave me much choice with that one did ya?I wanted to like this but I just didn't. The sexually charged banter throughout this whole book was the cringiest thing EVER. So cheesy. I felt embarrassed for the characters that they were given that dialogue. So much barf.There was nothing subtle about this book. Everything was straightforward in your face. Didn't like that.Also, the typos in here are insane. It's like the author wrote this at first with third person POV, then decided to change it to first person but she missed changing some of the references. It was really distracting and jars you out of the story and honestly that kind of crap is just plain sloppy.On the plus side, I liked the fae elements in the story (I got very low key Fever world vibes at some points). Probably won't be reading the next one though, cuz I just don't care enough about this couple.

I love Bec McMaster's books and was really looking forward to this release. The storyline was interesting, a little predictable but still a good read. However, anyone who has read Sarah J. Maas's Court series will recognize this:Thiago = RhysandVi = FeyreThalia = MorEris = AmrenFinn = CassianBaylor = AzrielIt was definitely a slow burn romance that had me frustrated because I just wanted them to be happy together! However, I still enjoyed the book and the world building and look forward to the continuation of the series.

Some people are saying that this is just like SJM's faerie series, but those people are wrong because SJM's writing sucks and this book is the opposite of suck. This book was win. Don't get me wrong, it's romantic fantasy so you're not going to get anything like Tolkien (although I think Tolkien's boring, so that might actually be a good thing); instead, PROMISE OF DARKNESS is a fantasy romance with good writing, fast-paced action, and an intense romance with a lovable but slightly dangerous alpha male that's perfect for fans of Ilona Andrews or Jeaniene Frost.The beginning of this book reminded me of THE CRUEL PRINCE so hard. Iskvien is the unfavored sister who gets to sit and watch while her mother blatantly practices favoritism with her sister Andraste. This reaches a cruel and incredibly unjust fever pitch when her mother casually trades her as a good faith hostage to the deadly-evil and deadly-hot Prince of Evernight for a couple months without so much as a by-your-leave.Once at Thiago's court, Iskvien is immediately hit with a case of the insta-lusts, but she at least has the brains to know that she probably shouldn't and sort-of-but-not-really fights the attraction while I sat there with wine in hand and laughed gleefully. Honestly, it shouldn't have worked but it did and part of that is the way that the characters were written. Iskvien can be dumb, sure, but she's also a lot younger than most of the fae in the court, who have been alive for hundreds of years and talk about all the big wars and key players the way humans talk about actors in their favorite movies. It's so much larger-than-life than she's really prepared for, so I felt like her naivete and feelings of being like a fish out of water were totally on point. For what she is, I actually felt like she was a fairly strong female protagonist with some great kick-butt moments.Thiago was also a great hero. I loved the way he loved the heroine. There's a depth to their relationship that I can't really get into because spoilers, but honestly, by the end of the story I was all weepy-- partially with feelings, but also partially with rage because I NEED THE SEQUEL IN HAND ASAP. There was so much more darkness and court intrigue than I was expecting in this book, and I honestly think that if you enjoy Frost, Andrews, or Holly Black's work, you will really enjoy this one, as it's got all the best parts of romance with all the best parts of fantasy. The court intrigue and fight scenes and fantasy sequences were so well done and there was just enough smut and sexual tension to make me keep flipping pages like a Vegas card counter.I was kind of shocked that this is the same author who penned KISS OF STEEL, a steampunk vampire story that I thought had promise but didn't really pan out. This just goes to show that authors can grow a lot over just a few years and you shouldn't necessarily write one off because of a single book that didn't really jibe with you. I can't wait for CROWN OF DARKNESS to come out.4.5 out of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book but did find it very slow moving (takes a long time to build up to twists so although they’re good twists they’re blindingly obvious by the time we get there). I skim read some of the ‘info dump’ sections but the rest of intriguing and well written. I feel bad not giving it more stars but...My main problem was how similar it felt to Sarah Maas’ A Court of Mist and Fury. Many of the characters feel similar, the curse feels similar, the city she’s whisked off to is even called Valerian, City of Dreams, instead of Velaris, home to the Court of Dreams. I wasn’t sure if these similarities were supposed to be flattering or were subconscious on the author’s part, but they left me feeling like I was reading ACOTAR fanfic instead of an original novel. Nothing wrong with fanfic but this felt a bit uncomfortable.Anyway it’s well written with genuine sexual tension, it’s just a shame the author didn’t edit out the similarities to Maas’ work.

When I read it was a Hades & Persephone re-telling, I was all in. I love Greek mythology and wanted to see the twists the author put on it.Not to spoil the story for everyone, the heroine, Iskvien, is a tribute to the Prince of Evernight. She has to stay with him for three months, spy on him for her mother, the Queen of Thorns.After these three months are over, she is to return to her mother's kindgom, where she never really knew happiness and the only person she ever loved, her sister, had turned her back on her. Iskvien does everything to get on her mother's good side, to be as accomplished and praised as her sister, but her mother seems to loathe her and Iskvien doesn't know why.She doesn't know that it has to do with a certain prince and a curse and a heartbreaking love story. She doesn't know that she's running out of time to save a person she didn't even know she loved.I hope this piqued the interest of anyone in doubt of reading this book. It's good, even with a few grammatical errors - the author would switch from 1st person narrative to 3rd. If you're not bothered by that and want a great love story with some angst, give it a try. I'm really looking forward to book two.4.5 stars.

I gave this book a fair chance - I managed to read through almost 70% of it and I don't want to be unkind as I am not familiar with the author's other works. Unfortunately, this book feels as a blatant copy of ACOTAR, but without the imaginative and rich writing of Sarah J. Maas and the great plot and grittines.The characters are flat and boring, without any development and some of them are down right pointless and introduced without any reason. The mystery is nonexistent - too many hints dropped too many times, too clumsily. The twists were entirely predictable, as some of them were hinted at very poorly - for example, an entire, otherwise meaningless dialogue, discussing Hint A.The dialogues themselves were very flat, unimaginative and often times, cringy. They didn't serve purpose to reveal the inner workings of the characters or to progress the story, they felt more of a page filler.Very little was explained of the characters' motivation and often times, if stripped to its essence the motive would come down to something like "I didn't like that song you had composed" - what does that tell you about the character of a person?There were some confusions in the plot, descriptions were given, only to be changed later on. Words were used wrong - e.g. "yield to it" where it should have been "yield it". Some were not even the right words. Grammar was loose concept and the tenses could not figure themselves out.Overall this book has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster - I started off with little expectation, read the first couple of chapters and thought "this is not bad at all", to then be dropped straight back in "Plot holes" valley between " Grammar is dead" and "Words are meaningless" mountains. Maybe the author was trying something new and didn't quite get it right (as mentioned I'm not familiar with her style and writing) but I think it ends up being a rather poorly written, poorly thought out book with minimal to no editing. I'm afraid I won't be coming back to the series.

I started out not really vibing this. The prologue was a bit info-dumpy and the first few chapters weren't gripping me, but damn it if something about this story didn't force me to stick around for the ride.It's not perfect. Honestly, I think it needed another editing pass because there were a lot of typos and plot inconsistencies. I do tend to let this slide a little when I'm reading though, because I'm an editor and I know I hyper-focus on this stuff, and if the story is good I'm happy to overlook it. In this case, the story was just about good enough.Anyone who has read A Court of Mist and Fury will see the similarities with A Promise of Darkness. This isn't a bad thing – I bloomin' love ACOMAF. I'm a sucker for a 'dark' prince who's easy on the eyes. I think I wanted a bit more from the story, though. Or, rather, a bit less. There are a lot of plot points vying for attention and none of them really got the attention they needed. Personally, I would have just made this a fantasy romance and stripped out the fae war stuff going on in the background, but I won't say more on that because of spoilers.Ultimately, this was a quick, easy read and I did really like the romance. I thought it was a bit insta-lovey at first, but once you get into the plot you realise *why* it's that way and so I didn't mind it nearly as much. I might read the sequel, out of curiosity.

I love it when you come across a book that totally draws you in, and you can't or don't want to stop reading!Iskvien the daughter of the Queen of Thorns is sent to stay with their enemy the Prince of Evernight (Thiago) for 3 months to spy on him and to become the daughter that is not a disappointment to her mother. When the 3 months is up Iskvien is to be returned to her mother. But all is not what it seems !There are a lot of secrets, that Iskvien isn't privy too and has to do a little detective work for herself. She knows that Thiago is her enemy but cant help thinking that the things she hears and knows about him and his court aren't somehow right.There are Twists and turns and action throughout but I did find it a little predictable in places, but never the less a thrilling read!