FALLING KINGDOMS
By Morgan Rhodes
~Book Review~
Warning! Spoilers!
ON THE COVER of
half of the books in the Falling Kingdoms series is a really cool-looking assassin guy
(or girl) who looks like they means business.
I’m still trying
to figure out who the heck that would be in this lukewarm, extremely expository
series.
In the land of
Mythica, there are three poorly drawn kingdoms who grapple for power. Princess
Cleona is from the kingdom that is all good and light in the world, there is a
random desert kingdom that makes wine where rebel Jonas hails from, and there
is a third gray, power-hungry kingdom where the Inquisition has gone wild that
seeks to conquer the other two. Prince Magnus and his sister Lucia have the honor
of being the children of said power-hungry king.
There are also
random deities who hang out in random realms and shape-shift into animals to
comment on the various battle proceedings and the prophesied sorceress. There
are also two goddesses who hate each other and are responsible for the split in
countries and magic.
The world-building
just didn’t entice me, and the characters were everything I have seen before.
Cleona was the typical hot-headed princess who thinks it’s smart to bring just
a single guard into enemy territory, Jonas is a brash rebel who is so
judgmental that he is entirely unsympathetic, Lucia has the personality of a
sheet of paper and is manipulated by everyone around her, and Magnus is a pale
imitation of Leigh Bardugo’s the Darkling.
However, my
biggest gripe with this series is the writing style. There is just no sense of
wonder or painting the picture of these various kingdoms; it is entirely too
simple and flat for me, and makes the characters come off as simplistic and flat
as well. I can’t picture anything unique about these kingdoms, so I fill it in
with bits of other fantasy books who took the time to expertly capture the
taste, smells, and feels of their world and gods. This series does have a lot
of fantastic action and a swiftly-moving plot, but that’s lost on me if I’m not
invested in the stakes.
Recommended for
fans of: Sherry Thomas, Rae Carson, Colleen Houck
Upcoming Book
Review: The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead
