The Darkness Rises

By: Ilaria Masselli

It’s my first time reading a book by Stacy Stokes, and I’m positively surprised by her way of writing. She gave me the possibility to cry, laugh, and even scared me all at once. It’s amazing how the plot of The Darkness Rises entertained me despite the importance and intensity of a heavy subject like that of a school shooting, which is a very scary and difficult topic to talk about. I really appreciate how she handled this important question with paranormal elements and at the same time with common aspects and feelings of a high school girl. 

This story is about a girl, Whitney, who since she was seven years old has the power to see darkness above people’s head. When a cloud appears above someone, she can decide to do something or not. This allows her to save people and clean their path even if it’s not always possible to do that. That is until one day she saves someone who will be the responsible for a massive school shooting. She feels guilty for that to the point that she decides to leave her hobbies and passions to prevent another tragedy. Despite the good intention, one day she finds out some anonymous messages where someone wants revenge and knows what she did in the past. She will try to recognize and understand amongst her friends and the people around her who is behind these messages in order to prevent another huge mistake.

I really love how the whole story was written honestly, even if I was reading about a very sensitive situation. It’s important to know what is close to us because we can learn and we can grow. When information is well written, it becomes culture. Culture can improve the mind of readers, and this is the case. Whitney is a simple teenage girl with a huge secret that affects her life completely. Hiding a secret is a common condition for all girls of her age –  to hide something because it’s difficult to open about themselves if we don’t have the right tools. I really appreciate this parallelism with the life of a common teen girl who feels fear, love and sadness. The love story with Gams is a sweet safe space for Whitney and I really appreciate how it grows delicately and tenderly.

From a personal point of view, author Stacy Stokes is really a brave writer. This because talking about such difficult topics nowadays is a form of courage, of uniqueness in some way. And, honestly, I love those that put such important matters in books, songs and movies. In this case ,Stokes gave us the possibility to learn something and to reflect how difficult it can be sometimes to do the right thing, which is not always the easiest thing to do. Also, she gives us a wonderful story full of thrilling moments and scenes with pathos. 

I want to say how important it is to read The Darkness Rises. With the paranormal touch of a thrilling story, we can find also the parallelism of how our actions are important and how they can effect our path in this life. It’s not always easy to do something, to take responsibilities towards someone. That’s why we need to reflect and at the same time face reality if something bad happens. All of this is framed into a paranormal atmosphere which makes everything extremely captivating about this tale.