Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms, 1)

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Chekhov's Skill: Cleo’s penchant for scaling ivy trellis to sneak out of the castle comes into play when she’s imprisoned by Amara, and there just so happens to be a window with some ivy nearby... Once the book hit 50%, I started to get more interested. At that point I still didnt LOVE it, but my interest was mildly sparked. CLEO is now a prisoner in her own palace, forced to be an ambassador for Mytica as the evil King Gaius lies to her people. Magnus is still tormented over his sister Lucias rejection but what started as a Prince being betrayed, heartbroken and manipulated by his father gave way to so much more. With his eyes finally open as to how malicious his father actually is, Magnus forges his own plans and he may just be the dark hero who will take this series by storm. Magnus is such a complex character; I was fully prepared to write him off as a classic villain in Falling Kingdom’s but my opinion of him changed throughout the book and before long his chapters became my favorite. How did this happen? What is happening! The characters were appalling. I can't remember ever being so bored by that many characters in a book — they were all underdeveloped, dull and unrelatable. There was only one POV that I was somewhat invested in.

Now, Lucia. When I first started reading Falling Kingdoms, I really thought I was going to like her. Im not sure what happened, but somehow shes still my least favorite character. Now, I understand the corruption and everything, but I guess since shes this powerful sorceress everybody is waiting for, I was expecting her to be a little stronger. At least to try and fight that corruption. Lets see what she will do in the next book, though I dont think Ill change my mind about her. First Guy Wins: Technically, Magnus for Cleo, as they met once as children, long before Theon or Jonas came into her life. In my opinion the writing was the worst culprit in this novel. Taking a cheese grater to my forehead might have been kinder. At one point, Magnus’s widdle heart turned to ice… because he was so heartbroken. It. Turned. To. Ice. The writing was enough to make purple prose embarrassed.Felicia rips Jonas a new one when he shows up on her doorstep, carrying Paelsia’s sworn enemy Lucia, and asks for shelter. Her life has only gone into a downwards spiral because of his actions, as her husband was dragged off by Limeros to work the Imperial Road as punishment for Jonas’s doings, and now after spending months away without even writing, he expects her to drop everything and help again.

Follow legendary bad boy Magnus and the enigmatic Maddox as their worlds collide in this high-stakes adventure. And don’t miss Crystal Storm, book five in the Falling Kingdoms series. Over all a sloppy attempt at fantasy. One that almost made me look upon The Kiss of Deception by Mary E Pearson with some measure of warmth and longing. I'm not too sure how I feel about Cleo. The way she just "let" a death happen in the beginning of the book. I do believe she could have stopped this death if she wasn't so ignorant and let the jerk Aron do what he did. And now that I think about it, her stupidity caused a death of someone I really liked later on in the book! Ok, I don't like Cleo. Her hearts in the right place, but she's stupid. I'm hoping she wakes up in the next book.Humans Are Bastards: Why Kyan claims the world needs to be destroyed, because no matter where he goes, all he can see is greed, bloodlust, and evil in humanity. Lucia counters that while mortals are weak and flawed, they can also be strong and resilient. Jonas I just feel sorry for because of a lot of different reasons. I hope he can find some kind of peace in the next book. He seems like he's going to be a major player in the coming books, or die. Anyway, he started using his brain toward the end of the book when he lets go of the revenge factor. Cleo: I’m sure it’s a lie. Unlike some people, I prefer to make my own judgments, not have my head filled so easily with the gossip of servants.

Magnus: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, a firstborn son begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword… Magnus was a crap character. It was obvious that he was written as some sort of YA version of Jaime Lannister. Jaime however, has depth, attitude and charm. Magnus had none of those things, there was nothing endearing about him. I didn't care for his daddy issues or his constant self pity. He was boring. I'm guessing because he was in love with his sister (who actually turned out not be his biological sister) we were meant to think that he was complex, tortured and deep. Nope, not me. The only reason he loved his sister was because she was beautiful and was always nice to him. If she was average looking and had bad moods, he wouldn't love her. A love that relies on someone being attractive and constantly nice is a shallow kind of love. And someone that loves so shallowly is hardly intriguing.MAGNUS stands to eventually inherit the new kingdom but is still obsessed with his feelings for his adopted sister Lucia. Now, I feel obligated to mention that this 'bloody war' doesn't actually become relevant until around the 80% mark. The pace up to that point is dreadfully slow. First, it's almost a total copy of the map of Westeros from Game of Thrones in shape and size. Secondly, it is so devoid of information that it's almost laughable it was included at all. I suppose I should have lowered my expectations for the worldbuilding right then and there, but alas I still let myself get my hopes up. Jonas is still one of my favorites. I just feel so bad, because all the bad things seem to happen to him. He wants justice, he wants to free his people and destroy the king, but somehow his plans never seem to work. I feel like there was some kind of double romance here, even though the second one is still building. Not a big fan, but it certainly depicts very well how teenagers go from one love to the next. Cleo.The stubborn princess who is used to getting everything she wants.She may be naive sometimes,but her heart is pure and stronger than anyone could ever imagine.I think she is my favorite so far,a young girl with the weight of the world,her family and her nation in her shoulders.

tbh this is the most excited i've been for a book in a VERY long time. i'm ready to both love & hate it (be prepared for way too many updates whoops) The land of Mytica is apparently divided into three separate realms, each with their own styles and belief systems. You'd never know it though, as every character from each realm talks and behaves in the exact same way. Sure, Cleo calls a few guys from Paelsia savages a few times, but there's really nothing shown in the story to prove her point. I know that with YA some things have to fall by the wayside, but this is basic worldbuilding folks. Mytica felt empty, and inherently false as a result. Consider for a moment that you have three supposedly very different kingdoms. Though they are situationally VERY close (I mean like, a couple of days travel, it would seem, between them) everyone seems to speak the exact same language with the same inflections and manner of speaking. Whether it be princess of Auranos or poor peasant boy of Paelsia. Consider if you will, the fabulous ‘Enry ‘Iggins of Pygmalion glory who could guess a person’s birth place and where they were raised just by listening to their accent. Now of course, you can’t add accents very well into the book, but a little diversity in how people spoke and some slang would have been nice! I should have known there’d be trouble in paradise when I found out that Morgan Rhodes was a non de plume for Michelle Rowen, who wrote that terrible Dark Kiss novel that I couldn’t even finish. Morgan isn't afraid to kill off characters too, constantly keeping you on edge and praying for the safety of your favourites.

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Castles (not those insipid gaudy always-partying palaces; real medieval-ish ones! with dark corridors & dungeons! yay!) Heir Club for Men: In the sexist Kraeshian Empire, females cannot inherit unless all other male heirs are dead. Lucia: [My brother] is very forgiving, though. After all, he forgave you your unfortunate and shameful loss of chastity to Lord Aron Lagaris, didn’t he? Cleo. She was quite annoying in the previous book, but its quite easy to like her. As I said before, maybe because it feels like shes more of a protagonist than the others, or maybe just because everyone wants to see the kind destroyed. Im very glad to see shes maturing, that she can take more decisions by herself and shes not afraid of getting her hands dirty. Crapsaccharine World: Auranos, Cleo’s country, is a place with perpetually wonderful weather, wealth, and beauty; the citizens are free to live as they see fit, partying for days on end and indulging in whatever brings them joy. Look a little closer, and you’ll discover they earned their wealth by taxing their neighbor Paelsia to poverty, that they are oblivious of their surroundings to the point of being sheep, and that they’re exactly as shallow as they appear.