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A review by a_j_torres0
Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
4.0
This is a Young Adult Epic Fantasy novel Book 1.
Book Cover: 5* - I love this cover. I thought the painted work was wonderfully well done and conveys mystery. Who is the hooded character and where is he? What's with the hawk flying in the background? Did I forget to mention I love illustrated work lol.
Summary/Tagline: 5* - Now I thought it was annoying that some people will say this book is like Game of Thrones but for teenagers . . . it's like they don't know that teenagers read Game of Thrones. If they want to read GOT they can just read that book instead of what is only considered "like" GOT. Falling Kingdoms is only "like" GOT because of the multiple POV chapter perspectives. The summary gives us 4 characters and their perspectives plus an over all and I was very surprised by that actually, I liked it. After reading the summaries I was very much hooked, I wanted to know what was going to happen and that is what I want from a summary. Pretty much surprise the hell out of me and you might have me hooked lol.
Characters: 4* - Okay so this book has multiple perspectives, but instead of naming the chapters after character names they are named after places the chapter takes place in which will get confusing especially when the main POV characters are in the same place. This book has a total of 6 POVs.
Princess Cleiona Bellos/12 POV Chapters - I do not like this character. Her "naivety" verged on idiocy way more times then it should. Cleo also doesn't think, she didn't take things seriously especially when a "friend" of hers murdered a boy from a neighboring country and started a war with said country and another, and allows people to walk all over her, and complains about it later to her older sister. I understand that she wants to save her older sister and takes initiative about it, but when being forced to marry a vile boy she doesn't care about she just lets it happen and complains to her sister about it. Cleo was also involved with a short live romanced that felt so forced I'm sure it was only added because this book is YA.
Jonas Agallon/9 POV Chapters - I was indifferent about this character for the entire book. I didn't like him nor hate him, I was just meh about this character. I did feel bad for what happened to his brother in chapter 1 of this book but once we entered this characters POV I was just not feeling him at all whatsoever.
Prince Magnus Damora/10 POV Chapters - Magnus is probably my favorite character in this entire book, and sadly my only fave. He is compelling, conflicted, and just someone I live to read about. Magnus has love for his sister, care for his mother, and both fear, admiration, and hatred towards his father. He forces himself to wear a metaphorical mask so that he can hide his emotions not only from his father but also those he doesn't trust and may be glad to see him and his father dead. He also may have a forbidden feeling towards a certain someone but you will have to read and find out what that is.
Alexius/4 POV Chapters - Now I don't really have much of an opinion on this character because out of the main POVs, he has the least amount of chapters and the shortest. His chapters have had me intrigued, it's too bad that there wasn't any explanation on this worlds magic system.
Princess Lucia Damora/2 POV Chapters - I thought she was a really sweet character, with special abilities. She has love for her brother but once things come forth about her and her family, she now isn't sure if she can trust them.
Theon Ranus/2 POV Chapters - I feel like his POVs only served to show what is happening in the country region of Auranos, at least for one of the chapters. He was a character I was liking until an unbelievable revelation came to him and I just rolled my eyes so hard that I almost threw this book against the wall.
There are other characters in this book, some I like, some I was just whatever they are there, and others I just want them dead very, very soon. There are some vile characters in this book is what I'm saying lol.
World Building: 3.5* - There was some world building, especially history between the 3 countries but the magic system wasn't explained in detail and I'm pretty sure it is meant to be left as a mystery in this book. Magic to many has been considered legend and fairy tale, barely anyone practices it or uses it except maybe those from the middle country of Paelsia because there is a chance that magic is what is killing their lands but not the other two which I thought was weird. Why is only the middle lands dying but not the North or South? Also people from the south are just pompous dicks that definitely don't care about their neighbors, even when their neighbors are dying of hunger with lack of food and harvest. The people of the north are terrifying because they don't like change or happiness lol, I'm not kidding, even specific colors are banned because it represents what the south is, so yeah.
Story: 4.5* - The story is nothing like GOT. Yeah there is death but I mean if you are going for that dark fantasy appeal you will have to kill characters, both minors and major characters. Some of the deaths in the book were definitely heart wrenching and I felt bad for the characters that had to witness their loved ones die before them. By the end of the book, when the war started I was very much at the edge of my seat.
Over All: 4* - All in all I give this book 4 stars because of the characters. Out of the 3 MC I only cared for 1 and to me that's bad. I am still intrigued by the world so I hope to learn more of the magic in the later books. I also look forward to where the story is going. If you aren't a fan of cliff hangers then I'm afraid you may have to skip this one because it ends in one. As for first time readers looking to read fantasy, I will say this, give it a shot if you are capable of handling characters death and horrendous characters that don't care how others feel or think about them.
Book Cover: 5* - I love this cover. I thought the painted work was wonderfully well done and conveys mystery. Who is the hooded character and where is he? What's with the hawk flying in the background? Did I forget to mention I love illustrated work lol.
Summary/Tagline: 5* - Now I thought it was annoying that some people will say this book is like Game of Thrones but for teenagers . . . it's like they don't know that teenagers read Game of Thrones. If they want to read GOT they can just read that book instead of what is only considered "like" GOT. Falling Kingdoms is only "like" GOT because of the multiple POV chapter perspectives. The summary gives us 4 characters and their perspectives plus an over all and I was very surprised by that actually, I liked it. After reading the summaries I was very much hooked, I wanted to know what was going to happen and that is what I want from a summary. Pretty much surprise the hell out of me and you might have me hooked lol.
Characters: 4* - Okay so this book has multiple perspectives, but instead of naming the chapters after character names they are named after places the chapter takes place in which will get confusing especially when the main POV characters are in the same place. This book has a total of 6 POVs.
Princess Cleiona Bellos/12 POV Chapters - I do not like this character. Her "naivety" verged on idiocy way more times then it should. Cleo also doesn't think, she didn't take things seriously especially when a "friend" of hers murdered a boy from a neighboring country and started a war with said country and another, and allows people to walk all over her, and complains about it later to her older sister. I understand that she wants to save her older sister and takes initiative about it, but when being forced to marry a vile boy she doesn't care about she just lets it happen and complains to her sister about it. Cleo was also involved with a short live romanced that felt so forced I'm sure it was only added because this book is YA.
Jonas Agallon/9 POV Chapters - I was indifferent about this character for the entire book. I didn't like him nor hate him, I was just meh about this character. I did feel bad for what happened to his brother in chapter 1 of this book but once we entered this characters POV I was just not feeling him at all whatsoever.
Prince Magnus Damora/10 POV Chapters - Magnus is probably my favorite character in this entire book, and sadly my only fave. He is compelling, conflicted, and just someone I live to read about. Magnus has love for his sister, care for his mother, and both fear, admiration, and hatred towards his father. He forces himself to wear a metaphorical mask so that he can hide his emotions not only from his father but also those he doesn't trust and may be glad to see him and his father dead. He also may have a forbidden feeling towards a certain someone but you will have to read and find out what that is.
Alexius/4 POV Chapters - Now I don't really have much of an opinion on this character because out of the main POVs, he has the least amount of chapters and the shortest. His chapters have had me intrigued, it's too bad that there wasn't any explanation on this worlds magic system.
Princess Lucia Damora/2 POV Chapters - I thought she was a really sweet character, with special abilities. She has love for her brother but once things come forth about her and her family, she now isn't sure if she can trust them.
Theon Ranus/2 POV Chapters - I feel like his POVs only served to show what is happening in the country region of Auranos, at least for one of the chapters. He was a character I was liking until an unbelievable revelation came to him and I just rolled my eyes so hard that I almost threw this book against the wall.
There are other characters in this book, some I like, some I was just whatever they are there, and others I just want them dead very, very soon. There are some vile characters in this book is what I'm saying lol.
World Building: 3.5* - There was some world building, especially history between the 3 countries but the magic system wasn't explained in detail and I'm pretty sure it is meant to be left as a mystery in this book. Magic to many has been considered legend and fairy tale, barely anyone practices it or uses it except maybe those from the middle country of Paelsia because there is a chance that magic is what is killing their lands but not the other two which I thought was weird. Why is only the middle lands dying but not the North or South? Also people from the south are just pompous dicks that definitely don't care about their neighbors, even when their neighbors are dying of hunger with lack of food and harvest. The people of the north are terrifying because they don't like change or happiness lol, I'm not kidding, even specific colors are banned because it represents what the south is, so yeah.
Story: 4.5* - The story is nothing like GOT. Yeah there is death but I mean if you are going for that dark fantasy appeal you will have to kill characters, both minors and major characters. Some of the deaths in the book were definitely heart wrenching and I felt bad for the characters that had to witness their loved ones die before them. By the end of the book, when the war started I was very much at the edge of my seat.
Over All: 4* - All in all I give this book 4 stars because of the characters. Out of the 3 MC I only cared for 1 and to me that's bad. I am still intrigued by the world so I hope to learn more of the magic in the later books. I also look forward to where the story is going. If you aren't a fan of cliff hangers then I'm afraid you may have to skip this one because it ends in one. As for first time readers looking to read fantasy, I will say this, give it a shot if you are capable of handling characters death and horrendous characters that don't care how others feel or think about them.