Darkness Rises

Reign #0.5

by Lily Blake

Find out how the Darkness rose to power in this digital original short story based on the hit CW television show, Reign.
Long before Mary's reign, another power ruled over France. Born from blood and terror, it was called the Darkness. Now the Darkness has returned, and Bash is determined to stop it from spreading through the land before it can destroy the people he loves most.
Word 9,500

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Drama, Short Stories, Historical

48 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Cora Tea Party Princess · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 Words: Perfect length for a cuppa.

This was a nice companion to the TV series Reign, and delves a little deeper into the backstory of a very dark character. If you haven't finished Season 1 of the TV series then DO NOT READ THIS SHORT. Because there are (mild) spoilers!

This short has a very definite fairytale feel to it, which seemed to emphasise the plot, and was overall a very enjoyable story. It's a good little read when you need to pass the time, nothing to really invest in.

That said, despite there being so few pages, there was some fierce character development, quite an achievement!

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This did not actually take 10 days to read but I did kind of forget about it. Pretty well written, but doesn’t reeeally have anything to do with the Reign characters we know and love. At times I even forgot this was a Reign novella. I adore historical France, so it satisfied my craving at any rate. 3.5 stars.

[hannonle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written, I like the story. But, I feel deceived because I expected the Reign characters to have more relevance at the story, even if some of the plot is resolved in the TV Show, it would had been nice to read it.

[Lia S. (Lost in Readultery) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"But it was a story of a kind, broken boy who had no other choice. What have you become? Who are you now?" -Darkness Rises

If you've ever watched a tv show "Reign", you ought to know who Darkness is. This is a short story about The Darkness, and his rise! When I started reading this short story, I couldn't understand whether this had happened in times of when Mary has become a queen or has it happened way long before - it happened years before Mary's rise to the throne. It all started with a kind boy names Claude, who was physically abused by his father! Then the plague has come to his village in which resulted in his mother, father, and two brothers slow and agonizing death - but Claude for some reason hasn't gotten sick. I swear, I was literally crying my eyes out as I continued reading.

So sad and terrifying how Claude was forced to kill his first love, Lily, who unfortunately has gotten sick too. After him killing Lily, he has become some sort of God for villagers who brought him gifts and thanked him for sacrificing a life to save others - when he met his beautiful wife. Slowly, Claude has started losing his mind and started seeing visions of lily telling him the future - the future held another sickness of plague and Claude starts making human sacrifices to prevent it.

But in the end, sadly Claude has gone nuts and started drinking blood of his human sacrifices and he even sewn himself a cloak OUT OF HUMAN FLESH!!! His wife, Clemence, got fed up and tried to leave him, but Claude being totally out of his mind has killed her as a sacrifice...

This story is Terrifying, sad, and all the negative emotions I can't put into words.

[margarida anjos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Then she repeated it. “Rock, fire, flood, freeze, storm, star shower, sickness.”

Did he say it as a desperate attempt to save himself? Did he truly believe a shower of stars falling from the sky would mark the plague’s return?

I’ve been waiting to read this series for such a long time (the TV show is more than missed), so here I am - 16th century France, the plague and paganism all at once, especially knowing the Queen of Scots is about to come up? Bring it on - onto the next one right away…

[Shaina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Backstory

Nice to know the back story of the darkness. But slow to start and I did skim most of the story.

[Patricia Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Soooo you're trying to say the darkness was right?!

[Kelli Duprey · Rating 5 out of 5]

nice when you need a little Reign fix!

[Alessio · Rating 4 out of 5]

very nice reading and introduction on the Darkness. i think its genius how the show stays grounded to reality without going full supernatural and theres always a logical explanation, it makes the stakes more important on a human level and leaves room for the characters in the show to grow and make decisions about who they want to become.

[Crystal Holley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

The author did a magnificent job with the character's ethical matters and decisions within the story line. It's not e everyday a reader can appreciate the love triangle of many characters. Well balanced!

[j · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a really good series considering how even though it was partially adapted, it was still based on real history. There were many exciting plot twists and forever will be one of my favorite series. Series surely recommended.

[Doris Ware · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting short story. I read it on my kindle.

[Jamie Coudeville · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I may have waited too long to read this. I don't remember much from this storyline. I liked it but didn't love it since it didn't have any of the characters I love.

[Luis Ramon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to read this book, the drama of the serie it´s amazing

[Marion G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 Stars

[Neysa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know that I will ended in dissapointment after read this story but I keep reading it because I am a fan of the series and I curious how will Lily Blake started off this book as the first book of Reign. Less than 100 pages of ebook version and I able to finish it in less than an hour. Deviate much from the main story, this story tend to focus on side characters of Reign. And telling how the villain of The Darkness (a human monster who lurking the villages outside the palace and finds the followers of him and innocent bloods of villages to be sacrifice in the pagan ritual) threatening France and the kingdom as well. The story also starting how was The Darkness become so ruthless because of his past lives. Well no wonder Lily Blake named it as Reign #0.5 because this storyline never exist in Reign series itself. But I give it 2.5, as the complementary read material if you are a big fan of Reign and would like to digging more about Reign series.

[Mari✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s definitely deserving of a Trigger Warning beforehand. There are gruesome details about killing animals and people! So be aware of that, it made me feel sick!

Other than that, this is an amazing prequel story, you should definitely read it before you read “The Prophecy” (otherwise it will be a bit blurry lol). I read it after the prophecy but still understood both stories. This one is definitely a lot heavier and a lot more detailed, so be aware of that! It’s great, and really fits well with the series!

[Jackie Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a quick read and really filled in the blanks between episodes of Reign in the first season! It was interesting to read about “The Darkness” and his backstory since we didn't learn a whole lot about his character in the show and could only make assumptions about him from what we'd seen in episodes.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bash and Nostradamus ride out to seek The Darkness and put an end to its evil ways...the story then goes back in time and tells how The Darkness came to be...in the end Bash was there in time to save his wife Kenna from being killed by The Darkness...and put to death the evil man.

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read that I started at midnight. It filled in a plot hole as well as gave us something extra. I loved it.

[Jennie-Ann Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read...
I loved watching Reign so when I discovered this book, I knew I just had to read it... I enjoyed reading how The Darkness became The Darkness!

[Leighah · Rating 4 out of 5]

good

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a prequel novella for the TV show Reign, looking at the events that led up to "The Darkness". My rating is mostly for the fact that the characters from the show are barely in this (although the brief moments of Bash and Kenna were awesome), and that is really what I wanted to read.

The story itself is interesting and well written, but it's so dark in tone that it's not something I would normally read. It didn't always fit my memory of the events and characters involved in The Darkness and how they fit into the show. "The Darkness" does have mysterious elements to it, and given this was published mid-Season 1 I can see how it fits there, but I read it in the middle of Season 2 I can see things that really don't seem to fit.

As a stand alone story, it is well done but I come into companion series to get more of the characters I love, which didn't happen here. I am curious about other TV-tie-in novels for Reign, but I will read some descriptions first to know what I'm getting into!

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a complete Reign addict, so I had to read this novella! The Darkness is one aspect of the show that I'm a bit iffy on, but now I see it from a whole new perspective. It's definitely stranger than I originally thought. Darkness Rises fills in a gap from the Season 1 finale, when Bash goes off to find the Darkness, and tells all about how it came to be. It's much more modern than I had assumed, and I think that makes it all the more disturbing. The Pagans sacrificing innocent people under direction of some hidden deity isn't some long tradition, it was started fairly recently by someone seemingly ordinary. I don't want to give anything away, but it's super disturbing! The origin of the Darkness has that same semi-paranormal tone from the show, so it was hard to tell what was real and was all in his head. I'd definitely recommend this to other Reign fans!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Jena Mckibbin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have given it 5 stars, but I was put off by the length of the book. Even though I enjoyed the story, and liked that it was an easy read, I thought it was a novel when I bought it instead of a short story.

[Anastasia Terendii (livie's version) · Rating 5 out of 5]

i was really shocked, when i came to know, that Claude sacrificed Clemence and that Claude was that misterious Darkness

[Panda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the book was a bit too short, I would've liked to know more about Claude and his life, both before and after Lily.
It was okay otherwise, I just get sad about Claude a lot.

[Jovy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't have anything to say at this time... my opinion (just mine) it was a ver slow book. I had to force myself into reading this short story...

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5.
Very good story. Very easy to read. I thought we were going to read more about the main characters but it was very good anyway !

[Jorayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short - couldn't get into it.