My Response to Dina's Review (removed by Goodreads even though Dina asked me to explain myself)
Recently, a reviewer left an extremely detailed and emotionally reactive critique of my novel Rise: The Awakening, even including a direct call for me to “explain myself.” I honored that request with a thoughtful, respectful, and deeply personal response. It was written with compassion, honesty, and the same psychological intentionality that guides my work.
Within 24 hours, Goodreads removed my reply.
Whether it was a platform decision or a flag by the reviewer, I don’t know. But the fact that an author can’t respond to a public, pointed review that asked for a response—especially when the reply speaks to trauma, healing, and psychological integration—raises a much deeper question:
What does that say about our collective willingness to explore nuance, complexity, and a deeper understanding of others, especially when it makes us uncomfortable?
So here is the full review. And below it, my response. I won’t be silenced for telling the truth, especially not when that truth is rooted in healing.
1-star Review by Dina:
June 10, 2025
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway, and so I felt obligated to try to finish it even though it was TERRIBLE. I would give it no stars if i could and am convinced that anyone who rated it 5 stars was reading an entirely different book! I ended up DNFing it at 50%, and i will explain every reason why. The author's trying to be descriptive, but the descriptions are bad and often overly flowery and romantic for not romantic things. There will be spoilers, so don't keep looking if you don't want that, but I am trying to save you from reading this book.
Ok so the book opens out in some rainbow dream world, 'she' is floating and there's a dragon, the dragon says some fear not i found you stuff, and that's about it really. Wakes up from la la land with full amnesia, naked save for a scrap of fabric that used to be panties, and immediately being manhandled by two men in leather armor. She gets almost r*ped. They call her 'little bird' during this whole interaction.
Here are two direct quotes that almost made me DNF the book 10 pages in:
With that, the grizzled man poured the cool water over her face and bare breasts, the cold droplets sending shivers down her spine and causing her nipples to harden in response. She squeaked, in horror, her eyes widening in shock and surprise as the icy liquid cascaded over her exposed skin, momentarily forgetting her bravado.
The younger man watched with an amused grin, his eyes never leaving her body as he drank in the sight of her perky, glistening breasts. He gestured to her hardened nipples, her body shaking with cold and suppressed fear as he said, “looks like she’s a little too cold now.”
Squeaked, huh? ok.
Side note: her coochie is referred to as 'her vulnerability' many many times, as well as her 'flesh.' For example the delicate flesh, her tender flesh, her soft flesh, the exposed flesh.
Instead of being saved by the bell, she's saved by the horn! They grab and drag her to a wagon where their other comrades are and throw her in a wagon where there are other prisoners (clothed) that are suspected of being in some rebellion or something. They start moving, and the other prisoners start leering at her, looking at 'her vulnerable womanhood' while the breeze is 'revealing glimpses of her femininity.'
Anyway, they're in the cart for long it becomes morning, and one of the other prisoners is basically like Hi who are you I'm Alexander I am really important in the rebellion and I'll help you :D. ok. They arrive at the City, which is basically a large Castle fortress, and they're being dragged inside the battlements. A wizard comes out, and of course he needs to have a Fantasy name so he is Galindriel! At this point the dragon that I frankly had already completely forgotten about shows up and wreaks havoc while the girl just stands there like oh my gosh its the dragon from my dream! and Alexander has to grab her by the hand and make their escape. Over the fields and into the woods yada yada. That's the FIRST chapter.
After passing out, she wakes up in a bed in a cabin wearing a nightdress. Every piece wood of furniture in the room is now described and this takes six pages. She sees a mirror and looks in it, shocker she is the stereotypical female lead with the cliche descriptors: porcelain doll, ivory skin, rosy cheeks, long flowing wavy locks that are a striking shade of brown, sparkling emerald eyes, freckles. Alexander comes in with his dad, and you do not get his name for 11 pages. He is a warrior turned smith and he introduces himself as Grim, because "if you saw me coming, well it was a grim day for you." He says this HIMSELF.
He and Alex decide to name her Gem because of her eyes. She starts to settle in to the town, Alexander and showing her the sights and they flirt and hold hands and skinny dip naked in a stream. He goes to teach her how to hunt, and somehow she already knows and clocks a MOUNTAIN LION with an arrow perfectly. how did you do that? he asks. I don't know i just did. Cool. Now enjoy this WILD quote.
“You know,” he said, breaking the silence and looking over at her with a soft, warm smile. “I’m glad those men found you, even if they were planning on killing all of us.” She cocked her head to the side, listening intently as he continued, “If they hadn’t, I never would have gotten to meet you and…” He paused and looked at her as she waited to hear what he would say next. “…Well, I think you seem pretty cool.”
She responds with "I think you're pretty cool too" which I don't know if that would have been my response to someone telling me they're glad i got picked up and SA'd and then thrown naked into a wagon but that's just me i guess?
THEN THERE IS FULL CHAPTER AND A HALF WHERE HER AND GRIM (THE FATHER) GO FISHING AND FLIRT AND THEN IT TURNS ROMANTIC?? THEY DO THE PASSIONATE KISSING AND THE FEELING EACH OTHER UP AND SHES GRINDING ON HIM AND THEN THEY AGREE TO HAVE A FUTURE TOGETHER AND THEN SHE WAKES UP AND ITS A F*CKING DREAM!
What the fuck was that? Gem silently pondered, her mind reeling with the intensity of the dream she had just experienced.
YEAH YOU AND ME BOTH GIRLYPOP??
ALSO. in the middle of this insane chapter, she says to him "Thank you for being my...fishing sensei." WHAT??
Ahem, anyway, stuff and things happen, Alexander goes to rejoin the rebellion, Gem goes to see a witch to try to get her memory back. He goes back to camp, comes up with some half baked idea to get help from the pirates, and he hops on his ship which is named... THE FLACCID SIREN. From this point on, any time the ship is referred to it is by full name and only that, which includes the pages of descriptions about it. This dumb*ss kid is also supposedly the leader of a whole fleet. He puts together a lil team of a bunch of people who sound way f*cking cooler than him and they set off. (one of them has a sword they've named "L'éclair" so I guess the French exist here)
Gem finds Aurora the witch, witch gives her a potion, she goes to sleep and remembers her past in a memory. Her dad's name is Teutates (it seems the Greek also exist) the Ghost, her moms name is Epona, and her name is... Helena... Kincaid. (You're telling me the father's full name is Teutates Kincaid? Kincaid??) Turns out she can fight and use a bow because her father trained her yada yada. Suddenly while Toots is out of town, bandits appear and start killing off people. Epona basically says go hide in the woods, i just have to go find something real quick and then I'll come join you so of course she does not, just stands behind a tree and watches her mother fight off a bunch of men before getting promptly beheaded. 'A fountain of blood spraying the ground like a macabre work of art'. Art, ok. Gem/Helena promptly screams with no self preservation and gets captured, dragged across the chaos that is left of the village and dragged into a house.
THERE IS NOW A GRAPHIC R*PE THAT IS DESCRIBED IN WAY TOO MUCH DETAIL. Like if you are going to maybe try to say that its to show the depths of her despair so they her growth will be all the more spectacular, WHY ARE WE DESCRIBING THE 'PROMINENT VEINS THAT GRIPPED HIS SHAFT LIKE ROPE' ON THE R*PIST'S D*CK?! Absolutely nothing about the act is left to the imagination. And then, while he is still inside her, SHE TURNS INTO A 'MAJESTIC LIONESS', and then she goes on a primal rampage and massacres everyone in the vicinity of the village. This includes the residents, wildlife, children, they all 'fell victim to her gruesome dance.'
Then she wakes up at the witches hut, and the witch tells her:
"I believe you are meant to fulfill some part of an ancient prophecy. the dragon seems connected with you somehow, the ancient power swirling within... Helena it all speaks to the prophecy wherein it’s foretold that the Zha Chu Seng will come to lead the Chu Seng out of despair and heal the realm…”
Ok Author, sir. Respectfully I'm going to need you to be so f*cking for real right now. What the f*ck is this? You can not be serious.
I'm going to leave you all with this quote:
Zha Chu Seng…a creeping fear threatened to break through his powerful dark aura. It can’t be…No, Zha Chu Seng isn’t real…just a story for those who need hope, right? But…the dragon…it was very real.
My response:
I normally don’t respond to reviews, because readers are entitled to their own experiences and Goodreads doesn’t like it. That said, since this reviewer directed a specific comment toward me and asked me to explain myself, I feel it’s appropriate to do so here, with the same clarity and honesty I bring to my work.
First, thank you for reading what you did. I can tell from the intensity of your words that this story impacted you deeply, even if that impact came out as anger, disgust, or sarcasm. That’s not a bad thing. It means my story stirred something within you. And sometimes, when we are stirred, we reach for the sharpest tool in the drawer to protect ourselves: judgment.
But, since you asked, I want to speak to the why behind this story, because you clearly missed it, and that’s okay. You’re not alone in that. We live in a world that has trained us to look away from suffering rather than feel it. A world that rewards numbness, not nuance.
This series is not meant to be comfortable. It’s not meant to be tidy or safe. It is a map, crafted from my own lived experience with sexual assault, that explores what it means to survive, disassociate, break apart, and eventually awaken through great perseverance.
The “overwrought” metaphors you mocked? They weren’t written for titillation. They were written to mirror what it feels like to be violated while in a fractured state of consciousness. To live in a body that’s not your own. To feel horror and shame while your nervous system betrays you with physiological responses you do not consent to.
That discomfort you felt? That was the point. Yet, instead of asking why the scene made you so uncomfortable, you dismissed the entire journey as bad writing, making all sorts of assumptions without first seeking clarity, which is clearly offered in my author bio. That’s okay, though.
You’re allowed to not be ready for it, but that doesn't mean it wasn’t well-crafted. It means it was too well-crafted, too emotionally stirring, and you weren’t prepared to sit with what it surfaced. That’s okay too, I used to live in that space myself, dealing with the fallout of my own SA trauma in silence, because that’s what the world expects of men, but healing doesn’t come from silence, and this book was also part of my own healing.
There’s also an entire layer of psychological architecture built into this series that often goes unnoticed unless you’re willing to look inward. If you look on the back of the print copy, there is a quote from Carl Jung: “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
Even the names were chosen with purpose. Helena Kincaid, for example, means “the light-bringing wayfinder.” She’s not just a character, she’s a symbol. A representation of the fractured feminine trying to reclaim her power through remembering, embodiment, and integration.
How many people date partners significantly older than them because of unresolved mother or father wounds? How many stay in abusive relationships because the pain they carry from past trauma has never been seen, named, or integrated?
This story explores those very wounds, not to glamorize them, but to expose them. To peel back the layers of the psyche, guided by the frameworks of Carl Jung, the collective unconscious, the shadow self, and the split psyche—all of which mirror the neurological split between the limbic brain and the prefrontal cortex. If you actually finished the book, and did so from a space of openness and desire to understand the nuance of what’s being said, you would see how this starts to come out, yet it is only book one of a 12 part series, so there is much more that unfolds beyond this book.
We are not static beings. We are fractured and formative. And through Helena’s journey, the story provides a map for how to move through that fragmentation; how to confront the shadow, integrate the pain, and rise into a more empathetic, connected, and evolved consciousness.
That brings me to the misconception embedded in your critique—that if an author writes about something abhorrent, they must condone it. That kind of binary thinking—where characters must only ever do “good” things and trauma must only be discussed in vague whispers or fit the narrative style that makes you feel comfortable—is the very reason we have so little real healing in our society.
You say you were disturbed by the violence. Good. You should be. That means the story did its job.
Because violence IS disturbing. And so is the fact that 1 in 4 people will experience some form of sexual trauma in their lives—many in silence, many with shame, and many with no narrative map to help them reclaim their power.
That’s what this series is. A map to help people navigate their own suffering and reclaim their power on the other side of it. One forged in the fire of my own trauma so others might find a way out of theirs. I know not everyone will understand this work. Not everyone is supposed to. But if you want neat and pretty and safe, there are plenty of stories like that. This isn’t one of them; it isn’t meant to be. This is for the ones who want to feel their way through the fire alongside the main characters and rise anyway. For the ones who know what it’s like to scream silently while the world watches and calls it drama. The ones who don’t just want to survive, they want to awaken through the chaos rather than pretending it doesn’t exist. If you’re not there yet, that’s okay. But don’t mistake your discomfort for the book’s failure. It might just be the first real mirror you’ve looked into.
And sometimes…mirrors aren’t flattering. But they’re always honest. And if it cracked something open inside you, even just a little, maybe it’s worth sitting with after all.
With respect and fierce compassion,
Anthony Halligan
I didn’t write Rise: The Awakening for shock value. I wrote it because I lived it; because so many people live it, in silence, in shame, in fragmentation. And because I believe that stories, especially the raw, uncomfortable ones, can be portals to healing when we allow ourselves to feel fully, rather than turn away.
So, I want to open the space to you, reader:
• Have you ever encountered a story that made you deeply uncomfortable… but stayed with you in a meaningful way?
• Have you ever felt seen by a character’s trauma, even when it wasn’t written in a “tidy” or comfortable way?
• What role has literature played in your own healing journey?
I invite you to share your thoughts, reflections, and stories in the comments. Let’s break the silence together. Let’s talk about what it means to tell the hard stories, so that one day, they won’t feel so heavy to carry alone.
With love, truth, and fierce compassion,
Anthony Halligan
Within 24 hours, Goodreads removed my reply.
Whether it was a platform decision or a flag by the reviewer, I don’t know. But the fact that an author can’t respond to a public, pointed review that asked for a response—especially when the reply speaks to trauma, healing, and psychological integration—raises a much deeper question:
What does that say about our collective willingness to explore nuance, complexity, and a deeper understanding of others, especially when it makes us uncomfortable?
So here is the full review. And below it, my response. I won’t be silenced for telling the truth, especially not when that truth is rooted in healing.
1-star Review by Dina:
June 10, 2025
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway, and so I felt obligated to try to finish it even though it was TERRIBLE. I would give it no stars if i could and am convinced that anyone who rated it 5 stars was reading an entirely different book! I ended up DNFing it at 50%, and i will explain every reason why. The author's trying to be descriptive, but the descriptions are bad and often overly flowery and romantic for not romantic things. There will be spoilers, so don't keep looking if you don't want that, but I am trying to save you from reading this book.
Ok so the book opens out in some rainbow dream world, 'she' is floating and there's a dragon, the dragon says some fear not i found you stuff, and that's about it really. Wakes up from la la land with full amnesia, naked save for a scrap of fabric that used to be panties, and immediately being manhandled by two men in leather armor. She gets almost r*ped. They call her 'little bird' during this whole interaction.
Here are two direct quotes that almost made me DNF the book 10 pages in:
With that, the grizzled man poured the cool water over her face and bare breasts, the cold droplets sending shivers down her spine and causing her nipples to harden in response. She squeaked, in horror, her eyes widening in shock and surprise as the icy liquid cascaded over her exposed skin, momentarily forgetting her bravado.
The younger man watched with an amused grin, his eyes never leaving her body as he drank in the sight of her perky, glistening breasts. He gestured to her hardened nipples, her body shaking with cold and suppressed fear as he said, “looks like she’s a little too cold now.”
Squeaked, huh? ok.
Side note: her coochie is referred to as 'her vulnerability' many many times, as well as her 'flesh.' For example the delicate flesh, her tender flesh, her soft flesh, the exposed flesh.
Instead of being saved by the bell, she's saved by the horn! They grab and drag her to a wagon where their other comrades are and throw her in a wagon where there are other prisoners (clothed) that are suspected of being in some rebellion or something. They start moving, and the other prisoners start leering at her, looking at 'her vulnerable womanhood' while the breeze is 'revealing glimpses of her femininity.'
Anyway, they're in the cart for long it becomes morning, and one of the other prisoners is basically like Hi who are you I'm Alexander I am really important in the rebellion and I'll help you :D. ok. They arrive at the City, which is basically a large Castle fortress, and they're being dragged inside the battlements. A wizard comes out, and of course he needs to have a Fantasy name so he is Galindriel! At this point the dragon that I frankly had already completely forgotten about shows up and wreaks havoc while the girl just stands there like oh my gosh its the dragon from my dream! and Alexander has to grab her by the hand and make their escape. Over the fields and into the woods yada yada. That's the FIRST chapter.
After passing out, she wakes up in a bed in a cabin wearing a nightdress. Every piece wood of furniture in the room is now described and this takes six pages. She sees a mirror and looks in it, shocker she is the stereotypical female lead with the cliche descriptors: porcelain doll, ivory skin, rosy cheeks, long flowing wavy locks that are a striking shade of brown, sparkling emerald eyes, freckles. Alexander comes in with his dad, and you do not get his name for 11 pages. He is a warrior turned smith and he introduces himself as Grim, because "if you saw me coming, well it was a grim day for you." He says this HIMSELF.
He and Alex decide to name her Gem because of her eyes. She starts to settle in to the town, Alexander and showing her the sights and they flirt and hold hands and skinny dip naked in a stream. He goes to teach her how to hunt, and somehow she already knows and clocks a MOUNTAIN LION with an arrow perfectly. how did you do that? he asks. I don't know i just did. Cool. Now enjoy this WILD quote.
“You know,” he said, breaking the silence and looking over at her with a soft, warm smile. “I’m glad those men found you, even if they were planning on killing all of us.” She cocked her head to the side, listening intently as he continued, “If they hadn’t, I never would have gotten to meet you and…” He paused and looked at her as she waited to hear what he would say next. “…Well, I think you seem pretty cool.”
She responds with "I think you're pretty cool too" which I don't know if that would have been my response to someone telling me they're glad i got picked up and SA'd and then thrown naked into a wagon but that's just me i guess?
THEN THERE IS FULL CHAPTER AND A HALF WHERE HER AND GRIM (THE FATHER) GO FISHING AND FLIRT AND THEN IT TURNS ROMANTIC?? THEY DO THE PASSIONATE KISSING AND THE FEELING EACH OTHER UP AND SHES GRINDING ON HIM AND THEN THEY AGREE TO HAVE A FUTURE TOGETHER AND THEN SHE WAKES UP AND ITS A F*CKING DREAM!
What the fuck was that? Gem silently pondered, her mind reeling with the intensity of the dream she had just experienced.
YEAH YOU AND ME BOTH GIRLYPOP??
ALSO. in the middle of this insane chapter, she says to him "Thank you for being my...fishing sensei." WHAT??
Ahem, anyway, stuff and things happen, Alexander goes to rejoin the rebellion, Gem goes to see a witch to try to get her memory back. He goes back to camp, comes up with some half baked idea to get help from the pirates, and he hops on his ship which is named... THE FLACCID SIREN. From this point on, any time the ship is referred to it is by full name and only that, which includes the pages of descriptions about it. This dumb*ss kid is also supposedly the leader of a whole fleet. He puts together a lil team of a bunch of people who sound way f*cking cooler than him and they set off. (one of them has a sword they've named "L'éclair" so I guess the French exist here)
Gem finds Aurora the witch, witch gives her a potion, she goes to sleep and remembers her past in a memory. Her dad's name is Teutates (it seems the Greek also exist) the Ghost, her moms name is Epona, and her name is... Helena... Kincaid. (You're telling me the father's full name is Teutates Kincaid? Kincaid??) Turns out she can fight and use a bow because her father trained her yada yada. Suddenly while Toots is out of town, bandits appear and start killing off people. Epona basically says go hide in the woods, i just have to go find something real quick and then I'll come join you so of course she does not, just stands behind a tree and watches her mother fight off a bunch of men before getting promptly beheaded. 'A fountain of blood spraying the ground like a macabre work of art'. Art, ok. Gem/Helena promptly screams with no self preservation and gets captured, dragged across the chaos that is left of the village and dragged into a house.
THERE IS NOW A GRAPHIC R*PE THAT IS DESCRIBED IN WAY TOO MUCH DETAIL. Like if you are going to maybe try to say that its to show the depths of her despair so they her growth will be all the more spectacular, WHY ARE WE DESCRIBING THE 'PROMINENT VEINS THAT GRIPPED HIS SHAFT LIKE ROPE' ON THE R*PIST'S D*CK?! Absolutely nothing about the act is left to the imagination. And then, while he is still inside her, SHE TURNS INTO A 'MAJESTIC LIONESS', and then she goes on a primal rampage and massacres everyone in the vicinity of the village. This includes the residents, wildlife, children, they all 'fell victim to her gruesome dance.'
Then she wakes up at the witches hut, and the witch tells her:
"I believe you are meant to fulfill some part of an ancient prophecy. the dragon seems connected with you somehow, the ancient power swirling within... Helena it all speaks to the prophecy wherein it’s foretold that the Zha Chu Seng will come to lead the Chu Seng out of despair and heal the realm…”
Ok Author, sir. Respectfully I'm going to need you to be so f*cking for real right now. What the f*ck is this? You can not be serious.
I'm going to leave you all with this quote:
Zha Chu Seng…a creeping fear threatened to break through his powerful dark aura. It can’t be…No, Zha Chu Seng isn’t real…just a story for those who need hope, right? But…the dragon…it was very real.
My response:
I normally don’t respond to reviews, because readers are entitled to their own experiences and Goodreads doesn’t like it. That said, since this reviewer directed a specific comment toward me and asked me to explain myself, I feel it’s appropriate to do so here, with the same clarity and honesty I bring to my work.
First, thank you for reading what you did. I can tell from the intensity of your words that this story impacted you deeply, even if that impact came out as anger, disgust, or sarcasm. That’s not a bad thing. It means my story stirred something within you. And sometimes, when we are stirred, we reach for the sharpest tool in the drawer to protect ourselves: judgment.
But, since you asked, I want to speak to the why behind this story, because you clearly missed it, and that’s okay. You’re not alone in that. We live in a world that has trained us to look away from suffering rather than feel it. A world that rewards numbness, not nuance.
This series is not meant to be comfortable. It’s not meant to be tidy or safe. It is a map, crafted from my own lived experience with sexual assault, that explores what it means to survive, disassociate, break apart, and eventually awaken through great perseverance.
The “overwrought” metaphors you mocked? They weren’t written for titillation. They were written to mirror what it feels like to be violated while in a fractured state of consciousness. To live in a body that’s not your own. To feel horror and shame while your nervous system betrays you with physiological responses you do not consent to.
That discomfort you felt? That was the point. Yet, instead of asking why the scene made you so uncomfortable, you dismissed the entire journey as bad writing, making all sorts of assumptions without first seeking clarity, which is clearly offered in my author bio. That’s okay, though.
You’re allowed to not be ready for it, but that doesn't mean it wasn’t well-crafted. It means it was too well-crafted, too emotionally stirring, and you weren’t prepared to sit with what it surfaced. That’s okay too, I used to live in that space myself, dealing with the fallout of my own SA trauma in silence, because that’s what the world expects of men, but healing doesn’t come from silence, and this book was also part of my own healing.
There’s also an entire layer of psychological architecture built into this series that often goes unnoticed unless you’re willing to look inward. If you look on the back of the print copy, there is a quote from Carl Jung: “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
Even the names were chosen with purpose. Helena Kincaid, for example, means “the light-bringing wayfinder.” She’s not just a character, she’s a symbol. A representation of the fractured feminine trying to reclaim her power through remembering, embodiment, and integration.
How many people date partners significantly older than them because of unresolved mother or father wounds? How many stay in abusive relationships because the pain they carry from past trauma has never been seen, named, or integrated?
This story explores those very wounds, not to glamorize them, but to expose them. To peel back the layers of the psyche, guided by the frameworks of Carl Jung, the collective unconscious, the shadow self, and the split psyche—all of which mirror the neurological split between the limbic brain and the prefrontal cortex. If you actually finished the book, and did so from a space of openness and desire to understand the nuance of what’s being said, you would see how this starts to come out, yet it is only book one of a 12 part series, so there is much more that unfolds beyond this book.
We are not static beings. We are fractured and formative. And through Helena’s journey, the story provides a map for how to move through that fragmentation; how to confront the shadow, integrate the pain, and rise into a more empathetic, connected, and evolved consciousness.
That brings me to the misconception embedded in your critique—that if an author writes about something abhorrent, they must condone it. That kind of binary thinking—where characters must only ever do “good” things and trauma must only be discussed in vague whispers or fit the narrative style that makes you feel comfortable—is the very reason we have so little real healing in our society.
You say you were disturbed by the violence. Good. You should be. That means the story did its job.
Because violence IS disturbing. And so is the fact that 1 in 4 people will experience some form of sexual trauma in their lives—many in silence, many with shame, and many with no narrative map to help them reclaim their power.
That’s what this series is. A map to help people navigate their own suffering and reclaim their power on the other side of it. One forged in the fire of my own trauma so others might find a way out of theirs. I know not everyone will understand this work. Not everyone is supposed to. But if you want neat and pretty and safe, there are plenty of stories like that. This isn’t one of them; it isn’t meant to be. This is for the ones who want to feel their way through the fire alongside the main characters and rise anyway. For the ones who know what it’s like to scream silently while the world watches and calls it drama. The ones who don’t just want to survive, they want to awaken through the chaos rather than pretending it doesn’t exist. If you’re not there yet, that’s okay. But don’t mistake your discomfort for the book’s failure. It might just be the first real mirror you’ve looked into.
And sometimes…mirrors aren’t flattering. But they’re always honest. And if it cracked something open inside you, even just a little, maybe it’s worth sitting with after all.
With respect and fierce compassion,
Anthony Halligan
I didn’t write Rise: The Awakening for shock value. I wrote it because I lived it; because so many people live it, in silence, in shame, in fragmentation. And because I believe that stories, especially the raw, uncomfortable ones, can be portals to healing when we allow ourselves to feel fully, rather than turn away.
So, I want to open the space to you, reader:
• Have you ever encountered a story that made you deeply uncomfortable… but stayed with you in a meaningful way?
• Have you ever felt seen by a character’s trauma, even when it wasn’t written in a “tidy” or comfortable way?
• What role has literature played in your own healing journey?
I invite you to share your thoughts, reflections, and stories in the comments. Let’s break the silence together. Let’s talk about what it means to tell the hard stories, so that one day, they won’t feel so heavy to carry alone.
With love, truth, and fierce compassion,
Anthony Halligan
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