The Rise of the Raidin Book Review
4/5 stars - cool, action-packed urban fantasy book.
The Rise of the Raidin is an action-packed urban fantasy book. Rise features a large cast of characters which is a lot of fun (my personal favorite is Krelien). They're funny and have a good group dynamic.
Rise also includes a number of original creatures. It's really cool, but it did make the first chapter a little confusing. Since the main character, Jen is already aware of her connection to this world; we don't get to learn about it with her. Instead, we have to catch up. Luckily, there is a glossary in the back of the book. A quick look over that made things much clearer.
As I mentioned before, Jen already knows about the fantasy world she's involved in, the World of Tilion. On the one hand, I wish we were learning about the World of Tilion with Jen, but at the same time, I like that she had been training for over a year. Her abilities/training was well handled. It felt realistic, which is good considering so much of Rise was action.
Rise was different from most books I read. I usually stick with the classic fantasy quest books, but Rise isn't a quest book (although there is travel teased for the sequel, so that should be fun). It centers around one major event/day and the action/fighting involved. It may not be my usual style, but I really enjoyed Rise.
Before I end this review, I want to circle back to Krelien. I love him so much! He is introduced as a fun, comic relief character, but the more we get to know him, the more depth we see. I'm really excited to see how he develops across the series (and to see how many phrases he messes up).
In short, Rise was a great book, and I'll absolutely be continuing the series.