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4.17 AVERAGE

goodeyreads's profile picture

goodeyreads's review

4.25
slow-paced

GREAT READ.

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This one took some time to grow on me but once it did I was hooked. There’s a bit of a slow start and some info dumping that happens initially, then the story settles and you can really dive deep with the plot and characters.

I adored that this had multiple POV. I loved that two of the main characters were sisters who cared for each other and loved all the good and bad within each other. There was so much growth from Zara and Daria throughout the book that I very much would love to see where they go in book two.

And the romances?? I loved how they contrasted with the darkness of the book. They were much softer and subtler. The banter and pining was top tier and I loved the reveals and twists from the romances too. This had my favorite kind of slow burn where I get a chance to love the character separately and the chemistry they have between them feels naturally devloped.

I am intrigued by the ending and it was a fantastic cliff hanger. I am absolutely going to need book two and look forward to another book in this world.

Overall audience notes:
- Fantasy Romance
- Language: moderate
- Romance: 2-3 open; low innuendo
- Violence: high 
thebookdragonskeep's profile picture

thebookdragonskeep's review

4.5
adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Make way SJM, I think Jessica J. Ayala might be coming for you!

"This is your doing. I am the monster you created... You have broken me, but I will be remade"

Well, upon picking up this book, I had not anticipated crying at 1am, but yet there I was... Jessica, you ripped my heart up and pieced it back together, just to smash it again. I don't think a book has made me sob like that since I read Kingdom of Ash. The last quarter of the book had me on an emotional rollercoaster, and I didn't know whether I wanted to be happy, sad, enraged or all of the above! I will admit that the book didn't snag my attention right away; however, the world-building, religions and political system were intriguing, and I really liked the multi POV, which gives you an insight on the goings on in and out of the kingdom.

The further that I got into the book, the more I became invested in the characters. Zara is a bad-ass assassin, filled with rage, who takes no shit, and takes matters into her own hands. Her character development throughout the story was incredible. The bond of Zara's guild runs deep and you can feel the love and protectiveness that they have over each other. I really loved each and every one of them. Ronan makes a fantastic counterpart MMC. His drive to protect his people and everything he has worked for is commendable. The tension and slow burn between the pair is so delicious, and I cant wait to dive more into the relationship building between them in book 2! Daria and Ares also have quite the intriguing relationship and I am SO looking forward to seeing how things evolve between the princess and body guard in their current state. I truly think Daria will be a force to be reckoned with!

The constant teasing of the Primordials and things to come further down the line is making me bite my nails to nubs with anticipation! All of the plot-twists that take place in such a short time gave me whiplash and left me feeling like maybe we don't truly know who everyone really is. I can feel something big coming and I need book 2 ASAP Rocky!!

Ahhhh! I have so many thoughts and feelings about this one… It took me over two weeks to read just due to life and a little reading slump. But by the end, I was hooked! I was feeling all the feels and didn’t want it to end/couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen. Honestly, the last like quarter of the book was more of a 4.5 maybe even 5 star read. But I felt like I had to slog through a lot early on - more of a 3 kind of feeling. There is SO MUCH world building and names and places and system of magic to learn. And it was a bit overwhelming; I knew I’d get to a point of understanding but even by the end, there were things mentioned from earlier on that I was having trouble remembering because there’s just so much. But I think this is just also more of a true high fantasy, slow burn, politics and mystery and multiple POVs sort of book. I think I was expecting it to be more like recent romantasy books when it’s really more akin to a Game of Thrones style story. Not to say there is isn’t more excitement and better spice though! So incorrect expectations was my fault, not the book’s.

All in all, I did fall in love with these characters and am committed to wherever this adventure takes us next, and I was sad when it was over. I just wish I had been hooked earlier on… it would’ve made this even more fun.

hallison's review

3.75
adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

hennessy96's review

4.5

 When it comes to fantasy reads, I'm as moody as a dragon with a toothache 🐉 😂 sometimes one smutty teaser and I'll devour a series of 6 books in a week, and sometimes the most anticipated books of the season can end up in a never-ending TBR abyss.
Then, I stumbled upon this book's blurb, and it just felt like right. Never signed up for an ARC this fast 💗
This was my first fantasy read of 2024, and let me tell you, I was NOT disappointed! 💎 I'm also in love with the cover and title ✨

I fell for the side characters just as hard as I did for the main ones. 💕 The found family trope was an absolute win.
The fantasy world was a complex display of kingdoms, ancient and magical beings, wars, deep and long history, a bunch of rules and interculturals family and heirs stuff, but the author introduced everything so smoothly and addictively.

It was all about the action and slow burn that did it for me. ❤️‍🔥🤌 I've got a major crush on Zara, the badass elven assassin thirsty for blood and chaos. Her character development, alongside Ronan, was simply appealing. It was a journey full of tension, banter, slow burn, healing, and mending ❤️‍🩹 . Their enemies-to-lovers plot was such a fine rollercoaster of emotions. And he damn falls fast and hard 👌

The storyline, as I've already said, was addictive and full of twists and intrigue 🧐. You wouldn't have a second to lose focus or get disinterested.

And now here I am, already needing book two like yesterday! I can't wait to see what's coming next! 📚😭 
kyote's profile picture

kyote's review

5.0
adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I'll start with a thank you to Jessica for providing me with an ARC for my honest review!

I absolutely loved this work. The world building was stunning. As you read, you are given more and more about the world which helped deepen your understanding of what is happening. Jessica gave the communities within the world such depth that I really imagine the people and places even outside of the main characters. The world that Jessica built was just so diverse and alive and I just loved it.

The transition between the various characters was so smooth and never detracted from the overall pacing. I greatly enjoyed all of the characters and I cried over a few of them. Zara and Ronan...what can be said about these two. Their banter and partnership was really well written. 

The plot is very interesting and I wasn't quite expecting some of the things that happened. The ending was awesome and really set the scene for the next book. I am really looking forward to continuing the journey in the next book. 

I highly recommend checking out this book if you get the opportunity.
challenging slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Firstly, I'd like to thank Jessica for the opportunity to read her book! I was looking forward to it - the social media marketing hooked me and the cover design is gorgeous!

Zara - your morally grey heroic FMC - is a Horizon. A mercenary sworn to serve the High King of Elios every year during the hunting season. Ronan - an archangel with a secret and leader of the shadow markets known as the Sombra Quarter. What isn't there to love?

If you like slow-burn romance, multiple POV, morally grey MC, found family, forced proximity, reluctant enemies to allies to lovers, with a side plot of bodyguard romance - you may enjoy Fall of the Horizon.

Overall I enjoyed the book. I will most definitely be reading the second when it comes out because that cliffhanger was  🔥 fire 🔥 , but FotH won't be a reread for me. 

Unfortunately, the reading experience fell flat for me at the beginning of the novel. The world-building and descriptions started with choppy short sentences. It gave me the impression of bullet points that hadn't been fleshed out. Along with the descriptions, it took me a bit to understand who was what and who was fighting who between the primordials, gods, deities, etc. It took me a couple of tries and a couple of chapters to get into the book. 

As the plotline progressed, however, the writing grew into itself and the prose flowed smoother. There was more explanation and everything pulled together well. The story follows multiple POVs and I actually enjoyed all of them.

I will note - it was nice to see all of the races treated equally. Sure there was "rich" vs "poor" and the archangels kinda stood out, but it was interesting to see how in this world, everyone seemed to not be limited by their race. It was a nice, refreshing take on the mix of mythical races. The love interest wasn't forbidden by race, but rather by circumstance. It was nice to have that "objection" removed. 

One reason I typically prefer paper books to digital is the ease I can access a map. Unfortunately, I don't understand the travel times/distance between all of the places the Horizon's visited because I was too lazy to scroll all the way up to find the map. In my brain, the timing and distances between places didn't make much sense to me. I only bring it up, because the author mentioned "a week travel" a "day travel" here and there, and in my brain, it would seem like a large area they had to cover - it just never made sense how fast they traveled. 

My nitpicks aside, I did enjoy the book. 

I liked the creation of the Rouge and the emotions and turmoil that went into the character. The constant push and pull between duty and guilt was well balanced. I liked the complexity of Zara's trauma response - and how she grew to understand herself and those around her. I'd say that the majority of the book led to the MCs personal growth and acceptance of who she was and wanted to be.

I liked Ronan. I liked his character arc. He is your typical "shadow daddy" this time working in the shadows to to speak instead of wielding the shadows. Nice little spin off the current hype. I had a chuckle. 
 
I liked that the characters each came into play in organic ways in their own time. I liked that the plot didn't feel forced and the author managed to weave together a storyline that kept me from guessing exactly what was coming next. 
micachu_reads's profile picture

micachu_reads's review

5.0

I’m in a long fantasy binge right now and was happy to pick up this book that should have:

Morally grey FMC/MMC
Assassin FMC
Dark-haired, dark-WINGED MMC
Slow burn
Enemies to lovers!!!!(reluctant allies in between)
He falls first
Political intrigue
Magical characters
Found family


It quickly piqued my interest literally just through the prologue. I knew immediately that I am in for a wild ride and I was not disappointed.

Both the FMC (Zara) and MMC (Ronan) are strong af survivors but tortured by the lives they were forced to live. The slow burn romance between them was just so satisfying - all the pining was sooooo delicious
csutcliffebooks's profile picture

csutcliffebooks's review

5.0
adventurous emotional tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

In 3 Words: Slow, Emotional, Epic

Fave Quote: He looked at her like she was the light of the sky and the glow of the night

I loved seeing Zara and Daria's sisterly bond and I feel like they deserved more time together. However, I very much enjoyed seeing them grow close to certain men who appeared in their lives 😏. Zara and Ronan are brilliant enemies to lovers. I admit I was a little confused reading the prologue because it was the end of a war I had 0 context for. Then there were a few info-dumpy chapters, but I appreciated them because they filled in what I had been missing before. And after that, I was hooked. I was VERY invested in all the twists and turns at the climax of this book. Some villains I knew, and some shocked me. I can't wait to read the next book in the series and see where things go next

I absolutely couldn't stand Raziel, so good riddance. I was absolutely horrified when he killed the Ikarrian Guild and I was terrified for Axar. I'm looking forward to seeing Daria bring back the dragons though, and I hope she reunites with Zara soon

Theory: Zara is descended from Khaos
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes