The Rise of Magicks

By: Nora Roberts

Narrated by: Julia Whelan

Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

The number one New York Times bestselling author of Year One and Of Blood and Bone concludes her stunning new trilogy praised as "A match for end-of-the-world classics like Stephen King’s The Stand."

After the sickness known as the Doom destroyed civilization, magick has become commonplace, and Fallon Swift has spent her young years learning its ways. Fallon cannot live in peace until she frees those who have been preyed upon by the government or the fanatical Purity Warriors, endlessly hunted or locked up in laboratories, brutalized for years on end. She is determined to save even those who have been complicit with this evil out of fear or weakness - if, indeed, they can be saved.

Strengthened by the bond she shares with her fellow warrior, Duncan, Fallon has already succeeded in rescuing countless shifters and elves and ordinary humans. Now she must help them heal - and rediscover the light and faith within themselves. For although from the time of her birth, she has been the one, she is still only one. And as she faces down an old nemesis, sets her sights on the enemy’s stronghold, and pursues her destiny - to finally restore the mystical shield that once protected them all - she will need an army behind her...

©2019 Nora Roberts (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Not great. Not even a little.

I never write reviews, but this was so bad, I have to warn you all. I loved the first book, the second was okay, but this was agonizing. Hokey, bad battle scenes, no character development, no relationship development between Fallon and Duncan...plus he’s a jerk about their “fated” relationship. And don’t even get me started about how she saves herself for him and meanwhile he’s off making notches on his bedpost. Also, the witchcraft and magic were super cheesy. I should have made a drinking game out of it — take a shot every time someone chanted “so mote it be”.

So much potential for this series, but it didn’t even come close to achieving it. It’s too bad.

How did Nora Roberts get boring?

I was so excited about this book. I pre-ordered it so I'd be sure to get it right away. My disappointment was in reverse proportion to my excitement. I kept hoping it would get better - but it didn't.
Nora Roberts is one of my favorite authors. I've ALWAYS LOVED her trilogies, but not this one. There was nothing new here - just more of the same. There was no real plot, just seemingly endless battles. The bad guys are weak and unruly (Yawn), the heroes are disciplined and strong (Yawn), oh yeah they train a lot (Yawn).
The Canadian Witch Vivian had potential but her character was never fleshed out. Why was her specialized knowledge needed anyway since Fallon learned all Magicks since the beginning of time in of Blood and Bone? Most of the other characters were mirror images of previous charcaters (Yawn).
By all means read Year One, and, if you like it - get of Blood and Bone, but don't bother with The Rise of Magicks unless you like reading about the same fights again and again and (Yawn) again with no new characterization or plot to speak of.

Disappointed

Loved the first two books but, this third one was very disappointing and the finale was bleh.

What happened?

A strange experience in this one. Feels like some one else wrote this third book. To happy and simply black and white

Could not sink the landing

First book was great, second wasn't bad, but the third was awful. What a train wreck. Nora can't write a battle scene. Lazy storytelling. No real pressure and any obstacles are resolved without any complications.

A brilliant finale.

I don’t understand the reviews of people who loved the series but couldn’t finish the final book. It is a continuation of the first two. It is written and performed the same as the first two. I loved and and will miss the characters. I wish the story could continue.

Laborious listen

This was just painful to listen to, I tried so hard I have an hour and a half left and I couldn’t tell you what’s happened in the last four hours because it’s just slow and boring and awful. I hate to say this because I love Nora Roberts trilogies & multi story books because I drive a lot, but this one I just taken me two weeks (since it came out) I have not been able to finish it and usually I listen to two or three books a week! So sad because I waited so long for this book to come out!

Magick

Loved the story, from beginning to end and the narration was just amazing.

In this finally, we get to see all the characters mature and come into their own. I feel empty that this was the end.

Ehh

I had a hard time getting into this book... anyone feel the same?
I usually love all Nora Roberts books, but this one fell flat for me.

Not what was expected

I loved the first 2 books but I was disappointed with this one. There was so much emphasis on the war and not the love found during or after.
just not what I expected.

Disappointing

Very disappointing end to the trilogy , pace felt stop/ start with no twists in the story

The One trilogy

Totally mesmerising. Year One, Of Blood and Bone & The Rise of Magicks, all fantastic books.
Brilliantly narrated by Julia Whelan.
Can't say I've ever read books that bring up so many emotions.
Be sure to start at the beginning with Year One, you won't regret it.

great ending

Brilliant ending to the seriess, best of nora roberts for sure . well read too

And what about death ?

I am very sensible, so I can cry easily, as I did when in the books it was about families........ but.... in this book, everything is smooth.... no tragic death(s), no mistakes, no nothing. Disappointing.

Enjoyble conclusion to the series

Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I found that it jumped around a lot in the first half - I kept thinking I'd missed bits. The narrator was great, I've enjoyed the development of the series. I like that the skills that are valued in the communities are so varied - that gardening or weaving is considered valuable, alongside warrior skills.

Fabulous build-up in Books 1 & 2, then FLATLINES!

Nora can write, we all know this. Even under JD Robb the stories are knowingly formulaic, either by design or more probably because that’s the way she has honed her art of story telling. Overall she writes in a warm inclusive and happy way and mostly we live in the pretend worlds that she weaves for us. She is a top seller, so the structures work formula or not.

In world ending high-fantasy, where the word ‘Doom’ figures greatly, the spoken of evil was rather one dimensional, violence is gratuitous and the darkness the ‘baddies’ serve did not leave you with a feeling of dread, just detachment.

There was no real tension between light and dark. Battles are brushed over in a sentence and you just know the light will win. Fallon’s gradually unfolding abilities simply notch-up another level until she defeats the latest bunch of bad darkness.

Everyone is just too nice. There is no dissent or moral doubt, other than again at a shallow one-dimensional level. In battles, there is no real loss other than unknown numbers of unknown people. For all the tedious planning always mentioned, the dark enemy are always weak, stupid and very very predictable.

I hate to follow stories where I know what the ending will be. In this story there are no real twists, no real reveals to shock or even surprise. The whole story arc was nice and predictable.

It was OK, but not worth keeping the trilogy in my audio library, which is a shame.

It starts well, gets average and then becomes tick-box predictable. I STILL wish I could write dialogue as does Nora though,

Rise of Magicks

A superb blend of suspense excirwment .Gripping from start to finish .A fantastic conclusio to the trilogy.

Great as always

I have been waiting for this book. Really enjoyed previous in series. Not too much depth in the battles was expecting more of an epic end fight but didn't was enjoyable to listen to.
Thank you. And Julia is amazing as ever!

An expected ending to really good trilogy

I thought the 1st book scarily thought provoking and a real insight into human behaviour. Book 2 developed the story and described the challenges that could face us all post disaster. However Book 3 was very predictable Nor Roberts is my favourite author and this book failed to deliver enough to meet her usual standards, it was very disappointing.

Well worth the wait

Such a great ending, I was laughing and crying throughout. Well worth the wait, narration was brilliant