boundlessbr
Sara's Review: The Rising (The Rising #4) by Kristen Ashley

REVIEWER PURCHASE
PUBLISHER: Audible Original
NARRATOR: Liz Thompson ,Dina Pearlman ,Stella Bloom ,Joniece Abbott Pratt ,Joniece Abbott ,Esther Wane ,Gemma Dawson, Robin Miles, Clara Francesca, Lance Greenfield, Jakobi Diem, Ralph Lister, John Hartley, Rupert Channing, Sarah Coomes
RELEASED: February 25, 2020
GENRE: Fantasy Romance
LENGTH: 18 hours and 3 minutes
FORMAT: Audible

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BLURB
Once upon a time, in a parallel universe, there existed the continent of Triton. The land was filled with beauty, but it was also splintered by war. Out of the chaos grew a conspiracy to reawaken the Beast, a fearsome creature who wrought only tragedy and devastation. The only way to stop him was to fulfill an ancient prophecy: Triton’s four strongest warriors must wed its four most powerful witches, binding all nations together and finally bringing peace to the land.
This is the story of their unions: the quiet maiden Silence and the savage king Mars. The cold warrior Cassius and the fiery witch Elena. The steadfast soldier True and the banished beauty Farah. And the pirate king Aramus and the mysterious queen Ha-Lah. Their unions will not be easy, but each couple must succeed, for the fate of their world is at stake...
FOUR BOUNDLESS STARS
I made it to the end. It seemed like such an arduous task when I first started. I have the same complaints that I had at the beginning of the series. While I LOVE the multiple narrators, It would have been less confusing if one narrator narrated a character throughout the entire book and series. There are so many characters in this story. I felt like I needed to write them down to keep track of whose who, especially the secondary characters. Then to have different narrators narrate, their voices made it even more difficult. Especially, when it came to the evil priests.
The story was epic and far bigger than anything I have read by KA before. I think she did a great job in the world and the characters. It fizzled out, in the end, a bit, and the huge climax that these four books were leading up to wasn’t that huge, in my opinion. KA is more a character writer and a relationship writer. The action was there, but it is character-driven, which is ok because, for the most part, I love her characters. That is when they aren’t all carbon copies of the same characters from book to book, which she has done in other books.
My favorite characters in this series, were Silence, Teddy, and Cassius. Silence because she had the most growth and went from a mouse to a lion. Teddy because he is the epitome of self-sacrifice and true bravery. Cassius because he is the perfect alpha male. He knows when to step in and be protective and when to let you fight by his side.
My least favorite were True, Aramus, and Ha-Lah. True because he is just blah boring. It got a little better once he got some but not much. Aramus because he is just a jackass to his wife. Ha-Lah because she is a ridged snobby B.
I am looking forward to seeing more with Selena and her Choo (sorry if I spelled that wrong). Overall I was pleased with this last book. The character-driven plot continued to be exciting and heart-wrenching. Teddy was crushing. He came so far from when he was introduced, and I wanted an HAE for him so badly.
I am giving The Rising 4 Boundless Stars, a good ending to this Epic tale not as spectacular as I had hoped but still good.