Monday, August 15, 2016

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes and Michelle Rowen

Falling Kingdoms 


Name of Book:Falling Kingdoms

Name of Series:Falling Kingdoms

Number in Series:Book One

Author:Morgan Rhodes and Michelle Rowen

Page Count:412

I read it in:Paperback

Star Rating:5 stars, all the stars

Goodreads Summary:In the three kingdoms of Mytica, magic has long been forgotten. And while hard-won peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest now simmers below the surface. As the rulers of each kingdom grapple for power, the lives of their subjects are brutally transformed... and four key players, royals and rebels alike, find their fates forever intertwined. Cleo, Jonas, Lucia, and Magnus are caught in a dizzying world of treacherous betrayals, shocking murders, secret alliances, and even unforeseen love. The only outcome that's certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed? It's the eve of war.... Choose your side.

 Princess: Raised in pampered luxury, Cleo must now embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of magic long thought extinct. 

Rebel: Jonas, enraged at injustice, lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country cruelly impoverished. To his shock, he finds himself the leader of a people's revolution centuries in the making.

Sorceress: Lucia, adopted at birth into the royal family, discovers the truth about her past—and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield. 

Heir: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, firstborn son Magnus begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword.

My Review 

Some of this review is spoiler free, the last section will warn you that it contains spoilers, if you have not read it yet, please do not read after the warning and just go read the book instead. 

Plot: If I had to make my own pitch for this plot, having not seen a Game of Thrones but heard a lot about the way the show operates, I would still pitch it as a Game of Thrones for young adults. Why for young adults? Not because it is a plot most suitable for youngsters, only because the main characters are under the age of 18. Otherwise the plot is not young at all. It is very twisty turny, do not get attached to anything, not even an idea kind of plot. It is fast paced but not to quickly you can't keep track. The plot is very political in the sense that it revolves around three kingdoms and their ways. When you have kingdoms, one must expect politics. There is also magic involved but if you are reading this solely for the magic aspect you won't get much out of it. Now with that being said, I believe in the following books in the series there will be more magic. There are fantasy aspects, such as, a magically object people are searching for, there are watchers which are birds but take on another form, and there is a prophecy. Overall the plot kept me highly entertained and engaged. 

Character Development: There quite a few characters in this story, but if you forget who is who the author has been kind enough to put a "who's who" chart at the beginning of the book. I get easily mixed up between characters and kingdoms in must novels but I wasn't lost for a single second during this read. So. if I can do it. you can do it. The characters are from all walks of life and have completely different personalities. You have Cleo who is the princess of Auranos her character is very generous and sympathetic, then you have Jonas who is seeking revenge he is very ruthless and willing to die but I can see a kind section of his heart. There's Magnus who is also heir to a throne, he has a very soft and kind heart and his sister Luica who has a tough outer shell and doesn't take crap from anyone. These character traits change throughout the novel and after events take place the author holds true to how that would change ones character. That I was really impressed with so yeah the character development was done and done well. 

Romance: The romance is right where I personally wanted it to be. It is very believable, and no "love at first sight". There is very few romantic scenes but when there is they aren't overwhelming. Romance doesn't drive the book and other than for political reason's it isn't the center of the story. 

Notable Quotes: 
"Magic will find those with pure hearts, even when all seems lost. And love is the greatest magic of all." 

"Love is stronger than anger. Love is stronger than hate, stronger than anything, remember that."

"And you must draw that from strength. You must increase it. And you most hold on to it because sometimes that small glimmer of inner strength is all that we have to help us press forward through darkness."

"Can't a strong person cry."

  • So, if you are friends with me on Goodreads, which you should be :p, you will see that my next book is not the second one in this series, that is because I need a book in between books in a series. So my next book will be something else but the book after will be the next in this series. 
  • Me right now though: 

Now for those of  you who haven't read this perfect novel please do not read anymore for the rest of this review contains spoilers. I do encourage you though, after your eyes have met all the pages, that you return here for the spoiler section. 

Until next time everyone, thank you so much for reading this. If you have any comments please do let me know or if you found grammatical errors or spelling ones that are realllyyyy that bad, feel free to tell me because as of now I am my only editor. 


 


Okay folks here it goes. I for one have never yelled so much while reading and wanted to throw the book across the room in a good kind of way. Can we first talk about the prologue and how Lucia was stolen? I knew that the baby would be a part of the book it just took me a minute to figure out which character would be the chosen one. I first thought it might be Cleo but then I was like nah too easy so I did eventually guess it before it was given way. The forbidden romance with Magnus helped because I knew that couldn't be the case unless they weren't actually brother and sister.

Next I posted on Goodreads about how I was team Theon for Cleo but then like six pages later I read "and the sword went right through his heart."  "You have got to be shitting me," was my exact next thought. Although I am sad he died, I am also glad because it made the book more believable. That is one aspect I truly enjoyed about this book, that it was very believable. All of the political ties really had me intrigued. At the end when the king of Limeros turns on the chief of Paelsia, I was like good for you Jonas, I thought you were being dramatic but nope you were right and that is just what the book needed. 

If there is one person I hope dies it's Aaron, unless he can get his life together and his character really develops then yeah, cya, bye, have a nice day. All in all, that shouldn't be too hard for the author seeing that she kills a lot of characters but I am not complaining, it just makes the book more interesting. I really enjoyed the interactions between Cleo, Jonas, and Magnus. There are so young but their interactions are very adult-like and I really appreciated that. 

When I fist started this my status on Goodreads was "let's see what all of the hype is about," and now I know, this was a truly entertaining read. 
My guesses for the next book are:
  • More people will die
  • Jonas will overthrow the now ruler of Mytica with the help of Cleo
  • Cleo will hopefully fall in love with someone else 
  • Lucia will become more powerful and have to use her magic elsewhere
  • Again people and ideas will die, like that rock, yup that's gonna die. 


No comments:

Post a Comment