Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms, #1) by Morgan Rhodes, Michelle Rowen

Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms, #1)

by Morgan Rhodes, Michelle Rowen

3.5 stars

I treaded through the first 50% of this book warily, not entirely sure that I liked it or that I was gonna keep going. It was worth it, not because of an exciting plot twist, or amazing character development (both of which this book was lacking), but because it left me feeling like there’s more (much more) to come.

Let’s talk about some characters. Like I said, I was cautious at the beginning; I wasn’t sure who was supposed to be good or bad, since the first-person POVs kinda interfered with my unbiased assessment of character, but Cleo I ended up liking very much. She wasn’t perfect (like many other female MCs) and she had a way of dealing with her mistakes that I thought was really decent. There are, of course, some flaws that go a little bit over the edge, like her relationship with Theon, which felt very insta-lovey. While it is implied that they spend enough time together for feelings to arise, we are shown almost nothing of that interaction, mainly due to the many POVs (which are kind of the reason why I couldn’t form an opinion about many characters until later on in the book). However, I do understand it was (kinda?) necessary, so that she could genuinely feel the loss of something she really loved and wanted, and grow up a little (little did I know at the time that it would just be the first in a line of horrible losses she would have to go through). All in all, she was great.

Then there’s Jonas. I like him okay, but I don’t feel like I have enough information about the pre-Thomas’-death-Jonas to really know what he’s like. We are given some glimpses here and there, but it just fell incomplete (example 1 of lack of character development).

Magnus is just plain annoying (very well-rounded though). His apparent indifference towards everything and his ocasional cruelty make him very dislikable, but I guess that with his background his behaviour is understandable. And then there’s the matter of his feelings for Lucia, that just feel wrong. And it’s not like City of Bones, in which Jace and Clary develop feelings for each other before they come to believe they’re brother and sister. At least she doesn’t reciprocate, and believes it’s wrong, which makes me like her a lot more and hope she doesn’t get corrupted by her poisonous surroundings (though I kinda think she will). I also don’t like how she is suddenly a magic expert? How does she know so much completely out of the blue?

I have to admit that the world building was very interesting, and I loved the off-hand references to hawks from every POV. I did enjoy how everyone’s role in the story (how they’re all ultimately intertwined) was gradually revealed throughout the book. What first came off as a jumble of confusing POVs slowly started to take the shape of a well-arranged (at least for now) compilation of individual stories that are loosely connected, but look promising. Still, I wasn’t impressed by any turn of events (so I can’t give it a very high rating), but let’s hope that changes in the next installments, which I’m definitely reading. With that cliffhanger-y ending, I kinda have to.