In the city of Pietalos, where corruption and poverty reign, the fires of revolution burn hotter each day. An oppressive government has bled its people dry for the benefit of the elite, but the citizens have had enough. Eight lives—each scarred by loss, betrayal, and violence—intertwine as they fight for their own futures and that of the city. 

If only they really did intertwine. 

There are interesting features here, and Richie Billings takes it out of the normal confort zone by utilising a soundtrack (scannable by QR code). This adds a unique flare, but just like maps, created languages, etc., it only goes so far to hide issues in a manuscript. And while there is quite a good bit of wonderful prose in this book, my problem with Together we Rise, is that it feels like it tries too hard to be something it is not, as if ideas were thrown together to make some sort of writing Paella. 

Billing’s characters fail to strike a chord, and the dialogue ranges from the tropish to ungrounded. There were many times everything felt out of place, the reactions of characters disjointed, distanced from any sort of reality. Further harmed, strangely, by bouts of the aforementioned wonderful prose and scene setting. Harmed, because the writing did nto seem to match the mood of the particular character I was following.

Which, brings us to the topic of the overall presentation. There are very few errors, and the overall editing is well-done. Yet, we also have quite a bit of questionable plotting. The division of the chapters into some sort of mini-stories can work if there seemed to be an overarching line pulling things together. However, the narrative is rather disjointed, and the ultimate picture Billing’s was trying to portray, a muddle. Fantasy elements also were thrown in one of the last chapters which didn’t help.

Taken as a whole, complete novel or novella, Together we Rise simply falls flat. However, there are bouts of genuinely good writing, and character concepts that can work, if given more time to stew.

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