Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms, #1) in Buddy Reads

Sep 16, 2019 Alison♊⚜️✨ rated it really liked it

Shelves: male-pov, between-4-and-5-stars, multiple-pov, ya, read-2019

“Even paradise could become a prison if one had enough time to take notice of the walls.”

4/4.25 / 5 stars

BR with Helena of Sparta
who has been insisting me to read it ASAP

Going to finally go back to actually doing reviews because I don’t want my RTCs to pile up.

✸ Characters:

- Magnus: His character went baaaccckk and then fooorrrtthhh and so on. Nearly had a whiplash as how he acted all the time. It wasn’t a bad thing or anything. He’s a difficult character for me to pin on because on one han ...more

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Mar 26, 2020 Becs rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviews, favourites

I'm pretty impressed with this book. The makings of a perfect fantasy for me must include a reasonably large cast of characters, excellent world building and preferably a well considered magic system or lore. Falling Kingdoms is so close, and if you're not looking too closely and allow yourself to be lost in the world of Mytica you'll probably love this book very much. But if you tend to get caught up on the fine details it will likely miss the mark in some places.

This book is constantly compar I'm pretty impressed with this book. The makings of a perfect fantasy for me must include a reasonably large cast of characters, excellent world building and preferably a well considered magic system or lore. Falling Kingdoms is so close, and if you're not looking too closely and allow yourself to be lost in the world of Mytica you'll probably love this book very much. But if you tend to get caught up on the fine details it will likely miss the mark in some places.

This book is constantly compared to Game of Thrones. There are parallels, including incest (of all the things to mirror, did it have to be that?!) and blood-thirsty, power hungry kings vying for more than they need. But that's all; otherwise, I really can't see the link unless a large number of characters with intersecting stories is all that's required to tick that box now. But what Falling Kingdoms does so well is that it brings those stories together quite early on, and the catastrophic impact of that is really the set up for the remainder of the book (and probably the series!). I love when books manage to have that snowball effect, and I love it even more when I can see how that will link in to future books appropriately - that's how to create an epic fantasy world, rather than multiple fantasy-style novels published back to back with a single tenuous link keeping that cash cow growing (usually just the protagonist not being dead yet!). It requires real thought, planning and ultimately excellent plot development, and Morgan Rhodes absolutely has that.

The plot of this novel is much larger than the blurb would lead you to believe, but is made up of a number of key players within a single political movement. Cleo is princess of Auronaus, and when her betrothed murders a wine merchant's son whilst visiting a market in Pealsia she becomes a prime target. This works out very well for the King of Limerous, who seeks to invade Auronaus with the help of the now aggrieved and vengeance-fuelled people of Pealsia. Meanwhile, a baby is snatched from its mother following a prophesy that the child should possess a power strong enough to destroy the Kingdom.

I really enjoyed the plot, I thought the characters were incredibly well imagined and felt unique in my mind, rather than a jumble of similar characters requiring a glossary simply to remind myself who was who; even the secondary characters, such as parental figures or otherwise redundant kings felt firmly established within the novel. I didn't like so much that the three kingdoms of Mytica felt very much alike, or that there didn't appear to be a specific dialect or defining attribute for any of their people. This additional touch is what typically really elevates a good fantasy to a great one; it's a degree of originality which makes a world feel completely real and possible.

However, my favourite feature of any novel (fantasy or otherwise) is always a complex character and Magnus, brother to the prophesied sorceress, is absolutely that. He is utterly despicable in his actions, most often, and his incestuous love for Lucia is, by his own admittance, uncomfortable but his motivations are usually good or led by personal experience and his character arc is exceptionally thoughtful. I both hated him and hoped he wouldn't get skewered through the guts when war broke out!

Morgan Rhodes doesn't hold back in this gruesome battle for power and, even better, you absolutely won't know who will make it out of the novel alive. ...more

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Apr 15, 2018 Karima chermiti rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy, 2018

Throughout the whole book, my facial expressions were alternating between this

And this

To the characters who were trying to succeed at the tasks they were given, I’d like to say

Full review now posted

It’s been only a week since I’ve read this book but it feels like it was a century ago. I don’t even remember that much about it so this is going to be me trying to really work my memory and see if I can come up with anything that do my thoughts and feelings towards this book justice.

In ...more

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Mar 10, 2019 Doreen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: must-read-asap

Falling Kingdoms was a great read.

For some reason, in the beginnning, I kept feeling bored and distracted. (I think it's because I just got off the "KoA" + "TWK" high sooo ya lool)....

Anyways, I think this book was a great first book in a series! I was intrigued by the mysterious Watchers and all the talk about the Kindred. I was a bit annoyed with Cleo lool but she kinda grew on my towards the end.

I admire Jonas' determination in avenging his brother but...things went pretttyy wrong after you k ...more

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