First book for this readathon! I might be posting quite a lot of reviews over the next twenty-four hours, just as a heads up. If that bothers you, well, it's a one-off!

Anyway, The Fall was a very short, easy read to start off with. Like all of Garth Nix's books, it's very easy to get into. I'd say this is aimed at a younger age than the rest of his books -- it's quite simplistic in many ways -- but I enjoyed the world-building anyway. The characters are promising, though there isn't much to them yet. That's the main problem, really, with this: there isn't much to it yet. I'm sure that more will build up over the course of the six books, and I'm intrigued by the world we see glimpses of, but there's not enough to lay hold of yet.

It ends very abruptly, and makes me wonder if the ends of the books are all going to be quite arbitrary. That could get a little irritating.

Still. Intriguing world! Awesome female characters -- with female-led societies in the background, too, with an Empress in the Castle and an older woman, the Crone, leading the people of the ice! Promising.