Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms, #1) in Never Too Old For Y.A. & N.A. Books

Jun 17, 2012 Damaris (GoodChoiceReading) rated it it was amazing

This book is amazing! I really don't know what to say besides that this book deserves as much hype as possible. It's written so well and the story is unbelievably good. It will leave you with so many emotions, good and bad, that once you're done reading it, I promise you that you will close the book, sigh, and think wow.

The story follows three kingdoms. You get a sneak peek of what it is like for the people living in each one. Each chapter is from the point of view of one of the characters. It s This book is amazing! I really don't know what to say besides that this book deserves as much hype as possible. It's written so well and the story is unbelievably good. It will leave you with so many emotions, good and bad, that once you're done reading it, I promise you that you will close the book, sigh, and think wow.

The story follows three kingdoms. You get a sneak peek of what it is like for the people living in each one. Each chapter is from the point of view of one of the characters. It starts off from Cleo’s point of view and her two friends. They are off to buy some good wine to bring back with them. While there, things quickly get out of hand and one little mistake changes the lives of all three kingdoms. Lives are lost, love is discovered and revealed, friends become enemies, enemies become friends, and some characters are not what they seem at all. I was turning pages fast and even found myself reading ahead at times. I just couldn't believe what was happening and the suspense was killing me.

Morgan Rhodes took me by surprise with every page. She has created such a believable world that you can easily picture vividly in your head. Her descriptions were on point, everything flowed together perfectly, and she entwined every characters life with the other perfectly. There is NOTHING I can find wrong with this book. The writing, the world building, characters, action, it was just all amazingly done. I found myself entertained and wanting to scream don’t end!

This is a book that I promise you will love from beginning to end. You will not find another like it. And if you do, please let me know! After reading Falling Kingdoms, I am on the hunt for another book just as good. I know I’ve said this about fifty times, but it’s just so, so, so, AMAZING! No complaints on my end. Not one. I loved every single minute of it.

I got the chance to read an advance copy, and to be honest, I wish I hadn’t because now the wait for the second in the series is even longer. I guess I will just have to re-read it over and over again until the sequel.

10 out of 5 stars! :)
...more

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Aug 19, 2013 Danielle rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-in-2013, read-in-august-2013, ya-books, ya-books-read-in-2013

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 2.5 stars.

I have to give this a book a low score because honestly I didn't like it that much, I really didn't, and I didn't get where it was going until the very end then I finally got it and saw what the author was trying to accomplish. This book was very much a set up book, setting up the series and introducing the characters, etc, and the end was what I kind of enjoyed once I understood what the point of it was, but the rest not so much. I thought it was too long, too dragging, and I was rush 2.5 stars.

I have to give this a book a low score because honestly I didn't like it that much, I really didn't, and I didn't get where it was going until the very end then I finally got it and saw what the author was trying to accomplish. This book was very much a set up book, setting up the series and introducing the characters, etc, and the end was what I kind of enjoyed once I understood what the point of it was, but the rest not so much. I thought it was too long, too dragging, and I was rushing through it just to see where this was going, and even skimmed quite a few pages because it was just so slow going for me. I was bored to be honest, and I just thought it was all over the place. I get what the author was trying to do and set up, but I just felt like that it could have sped up a tad so that I would fly through the pages and not trudge through them like I felt like I was doing when reading this.

I think the main thing that made me not enjoy this book was the characters, who I didn't connect with or really like at all. And I think it jumped around too much for me too from point of view to point of view because I would just be getting used to that characters perspective then we switched to another one then another one, etc. For me that didn't work not because it was a little disorienting for me while trying to remember who was related to who and what their storyline was, but for me it didn't work and I just couldn't really connect to anyone or just liked in general. I understand what the author was trying to do, I really do, and it followed kind the pattern of Game of Thrones, but for teens, with each chapter being a different setting and different perspective as we followed them along their journey in that chapter. But the difference between this story and the Game of Throne was that I actually flew through the pages and couldn't wait to see what happened to the characters in the story because I cared about them and liked them, and I would kind of groan when the chapter switched and we focused on another character leaving a slight cliffhanger at the end of every chapter that made me want to keep reading and find out what happened in that character's story arc, and it worked so well for Game of Thrones, and made me really enjoy it when I wasn't sure I would have and that worked for me. And even though the concept was the same in this book as the Game of Thrones it didn't work for me, and I wasn't like "you can't end the chapter there I want to see what happened to said character. I need to read some more and see what happens to him or her" instead I just felt blah when the chapter ended, and almost ho hum, yeah okay that happened, but almost didn't care what happened next in that characters storyline because I wasn't really invested in them really. Though I was a little curious about Magnus and how that whole having feelings for his sister who was really not his sister would turn out, but I wasn't overall invested just more curious than anything. So I didn't really like the character in this book until maybe the end then it got more interesting and where this book left off probably made me more interested than I had been for the entire book because to me that was the most intriguing part.

Though I understand what this author was doing some of the plot points kind of confused me too, and made me wonder why the heck they were in there and what was the point because to me it seemed very unnecessary and something that really shouldn't have been introduced. Or maybe if it was developed better than maybe I would have liked it better. The part that I am speaking about was the whole Theon and Cleo storyline, which wasn't really built up well in my mind and kind of happened really quickly when it did happen and then before I knew it was over. I was like "okay, what was the point of that? why even do that storyline?" The only thing I can figure was that it was so Cleo could understand how her sister Emilia because they both went through the same pain and knew what the other was going through. But even still I just thought that Theon and Cleo could have more time together and not just a blink of an eye and it disturbed a bit and just made me think it was really unnecessary to a degree. Though I can see where this is going in future books, and probably who she will end with later down the road and kind of saw that coming from clues in the book, but even still I didn't like how that storyline was done for my taste.

Like I said I just felt like the plot drug on and on for me, and I just wanted it to get to the point already and not have this long drawn out process that I felt could have been sped up. Not that I don't understand what the author was trying to accomplish, but still it was quite a haul trying to get through this book and see where it was going. It was almost too much at time just the thoroughness of what each character was going through. I think I would have been happier if it just focused on two people or something, I can't quite put my finger on it, but just something wasn't working for me for all those pages. I had to skim through most of it. It might had to do with the characters and my not connecting with them, but I just couldn't get into this book really. I'm glad I just finished though I am kind of glad I did because I liked the ending the best, seeing more action and set ups of what is to come.

I can see in the next book that Cleo, even though brave and strong in this book, will have to be more brave and strong as she goes along, doing what she can to get her kingdom back, and might have to work with old enemies along the way in order to accomplish that. Which I would look forward to in the next book and see the tension between her and Jonas as they work together for this common goal. That should be fun to see, and I kind of liked them when they had a confrontation in this book and wished there was more of that along the way instead of the long journey that each character had separately. Also what is going to happen with Magnus, is he going to go to the dark side or is he going to help Jonas and Cleo along the way. I'm also wonder what is going to happen with his relationship with Lucia, and just what happens to Lucia herself. Also curious to see what happens on Cleo's journey to finding the crystals in hopes of getting her kingdom back so she could take over from the Blood King, which hopefully that would be interesting and something I would have liked to see in this book instead of so much background, characterization, and just set up, which was what this book consisted of only in my view. And hopefully I would connect more with the characters and like them a bit more. As you can see I was more interested by the questions that were left open at the end then I was with the entire story that was dragging in my opinion.

Though I am curious to see where this story goes, I am not hoping up and down like "I need to read the next one now" instead I am just like "if I read it I read it. If I don't I don't." I would be more happy for the cliffnotes version to be honest and just see what happens with each character without having to read the entire story because I don't know if I am really interesting in carrying on with this series. I just didn't get it, thought it was too long, bombarded with too much information, and I really didn't like the characters that much. It just wasn't my cup of tea, though I think I understand better where this story is heading in the future, but even still it was so hard just getting through this one I don't even if I want to trudge through the rest of the series if it was anything like this book, which I barely got through. Though maybe having some of those questions asked at the end of this book would be answered in the next one and would provide for more interesting reading. But like I said, I'm not going to look for the second one just yet, and maybe wait a little longer until attempting to read the second one. Hopefully the second one would be better, but who knows. I just know that I didn't really enjoy this one so much. ...more

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Aug 21, 2015 I’m Probably Reading rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was one of the best fantasy novels I've read. I look forward to the rest of the series! ...more

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Jul 29, 2013 Mary Holm rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. Honestly, a lot of the writing wasn't great. The dialogue was pretty clunky. The descriptions were sometimes repetitious. But the storytelling was very well done. There were tons of characters and she has them coming and going and backstabbing and falling in love,combining and recombining until she leaves you breathless. But it all comes together in the end. I loved the character of Magnus, dark, passionate but damaged. All of his scenes ran ...more

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Dec 24, 2016 Fallon rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-2018

This was an exciting, fast paced book. I really enjoyed it!
Three kingdoms at war for power and magic. You read the story through many characters eyes on all sides. I found myself torn trying to choose a side and it was fun being able to see the conflict through so many different perspectives. I really like Cleo. She's spirited and stubborn. Magnus is another intriguing character. Can't wait to read the next book. ...more

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