Dark Rising by John Nassari

Book Review

Robin C.M. Duncan

I really enjoyed this fantasy novel, combining almost futuristic-leaning magic with intriguing and intricate politics, and a broad range of convincing characters. I worried at the start that there were so many factions and nations and players introduced I would forget many of them, but the author weaves from initially complicated-seeming threads a compelling tale of political scheming, betrayal and conflict, of hidden magic exposed, rivals – even enemies – forced to ally against a greater evil: I need not have worried. Seemingly disparate threads are knitted together into an engaging story, one that pulled me in and fired me with a need for answers.

A host of conflicts drive the story forward: political, personal, magical, even romantic, all underlain by and centred around a form of magical ability that has remained hidden from the world at large, its existence known only to its few practitioners. But the reader learns of dream travelling along with young Girvyn, who displays a prodigious emergent talent, much to the surprise of his mentor uncle, Laglen. Yet it cannot be enough to resist the great evil that the travellers and the world are pitted against, can it?

There are pleasing suggestions of a genre crossover in this story, hints that certain individuals have visited worlds far beyond the imagination of the general populace, or even young Girvyn. Hearing Laglen’s accounts of life in his dream world, I’m about ready for a side-quest spin-off, but there’s too much at stake in the ‘real’. A great evil is rising, and it is pleasingly not that of a cardboard cut-out villain. No casually vanquished foe this, but a shrewd and resourceful foe.

If I had a complaint, it was that – at the time of reading – I had to wait to read the second book. No longer the case, as Book 2 – The Dream Traveller: Rising Storm, is out in the world as of late 2025, and it promises much. (Review to come!)

I found Dark Rising highly enjoyable. It satisfied an itch in me that hankered after what might be called a traditional fantasy epic, but one that brings something fresh to the tropes we know and love. I read the audiobook version, and I must mention the masterful narration of the excellent Peter Kenny, which is, as ever, a joy, and brings at least one extra dimension to the characters with his inhabitation of the roles.