I've longed for more stories about necromancers in death systems that I haven't heard of before and this book fit the bill. I enjoyed the LGBTQ+ representation and the depths that the storyline and subplots outlined. As far as pacing, there were a few places where I could see the story ending or cutting out while still making for a great narrative. Would love for more/better racial diversity within the series, otherwise I enjoyed the story for what it was.

I really liked the worldbuilding that was established for Karthia and the different power sets. I love that eye color correlated with powers/abilities, loved learning about necromancers abilities like how they bring people back, I liked learning about the Deadlands.I found a few of the plot points to be rushed, and that the story lacked some tension, but it was still good overall.

Do you love YA fantasy novels but wish they were a little less heteronormative at times? Then this is the book for you because in its world, being gay or bisexual or otherwise queer is perfectly normal and unremarkable. Would that we could live in such a world and we never have to deal with homophobia ever again, but we’ll get there one day. It’s also ruled by a king who has been killed and resurrected by his necromancers on a regular basis for the past 200 years, which isn’t so great. Much like the novel itself, the world of Reign of the Fallen is a mixed bag of good and bad.

The wealth of queer and POC representation is by far one of the best things about the book, but there’s far more to it than just that. The worldbuilding and the conflicts created by the king’s refusal to pass the crown to one of his descendants are strongly drawn. Because the king ordered that the Five-Faced God’s Face of Change be darkened and no longer worshipped, nothing is allowed to change. No new inventions can be introduced, nor can the conditions in the city’s slums be improved to give the residents better lives and stop the deadly fever that runs rampant there every year. Only the richest and the nobility can afford to be resurrected by the blue-eyed necromancers, so they just have to deal. The commentary on class is light, but it is there.

Reign of the Fallen is divided into three especially distinctive acts, which I’ve called the Set-up, the Grief, and the Unraveling. The Set-up begins and ends with dead necromancers, one of them being main character Odessa’s lover Evander. This first third is the strongest of the three acts by far, as the Grief sees little plot progression and the plot reveals in the Unraveling are too predictable to pack much punch. Nevertheless, it’s an entertaining read.

The novel’s most severe sticking point is in how someone’s eye color determines what kind of magic they have. Anyone with blue eyes can cross into the land of the dead and resurrect people, green-eyed people can control a specific animal they become bonded to, grey-eyed people can affect the weather, and hazel-eyed people can heal. Brown-eyed people are implied to have a knack for inventing things, but it’s not written like magic as much as it is a skill.

Maybe this all-important bit of worldbuilding shouldn’t be so heavily reminiscent of the Nazis’ eugenics- and racism-fueled obsession with eye color? That they thought blue-eyed people were The Best is really well-known, as are the fact they had hair and eye color charts that were supposed to determine someone’s race. There’s also been a pyramid eye color chart on social media that classifies what someone is meant to be or do based on their eye color, which could only be more obvious as Nazi propaganda if the word was slapped onto the image.

Reign of the Fallen does essentially the same thing but with magic right down to how the blue-eyed necromancers are so valuable to the nobility that they have their own rooms in the palace and brown-eyed people are unable to contribute any of their technological know-how due to any changes or new inventions being outlawed. This is something that really should have been researched further before it was implemented as the heart of the novel’s magic system.

For anyone who enjoys this entertaining, complicated novel, its sequel Song of the Dead has already been released and will be waiting for you. Were it not for the ill-thought out magic system, I’d be giving this novel much more praise. As long as you can put that out of mind, Reign of the Fallen is plenty of fun.

3.5 Stars
This book had a lot going for it that I enjoyed. The world-building was unique and laid out well. The concept was very intriguing and a different kind of magic than I usually see in fantasies. I liked the characterrs quite a bit...though I did start to find the romance later on in the book a little off-putting, which upset me because I liked the two of them as a couple but just felt the emotional baggage of Meredy being Evander's sister and then her and Odessa getting together just because it felt to me like it would be weird to get involved with your former boyfriend's sister after he died. Their relationship was nice overall but just the aspect of them being initially tied together by Evander sat a little weird with me. Overall this was an interesting fantasy with several diverse characters and a story I definitely want to revisit as sequels come out.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me early access to this story in exchange for an honest review.

I really tried with this one. A quarter of the way into it, I gave up.

Things I didn't care for: This is a really complicated world, with lots of characters. Normally I'm all right with that, but there's a weightlessness to the way their relationships play out in the first part. And the idea of a society where no change is allowed is nonsense, even when a percentage of the dead nobility can be brought back.

Things I kinda liked: The idea of a teen character who starts out in a committed relationship instead of having to deal with love triangle stuff....though I think love triangle stuff might be forthcoming if I'd stuck with it. And of course, the popularity of <i>Gideon the Ninth</i> has shown that a queer necromancer story has legs.

Received a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Odessa is Karthia’s master necromancer. Whenever a noble dies, it’s her job to raise them from the Deadlands. The trick is that once raised, the dead must remain shrouded or face turning into a shade, a monster-like creature. When a dramatic uptick in shade attacks occurs, Odessa realizes that someone is intentionally raising dead and tearing off their shrouds. To stop the attacks, she enlists the help of her friends, Princess Valoria, Meredia, Simon, Daniel, Evander, and Jax. Can she stop the rogue necromancer from destroying Karthia? The world building is well done and the setting is realistic. The characters are intriguing, believable as LGBTQ characters, and draw the reader into the story. Although the plot drags in places, its overall arc is engaging and satisfying. The substance abuse content doesn’t overwhelm the story. Fans of epic fantasy, necromancy fiction, and mystery with light romance mixed in will enjoy reading this book.

Please Note This was a review copy from Netgalley and Penguin Random House. No financial compensation was received. All opinions expressed are our own.

The cover of this book is absolutely stunning and it really drew me in. This is an amazing fantasy novel that I’m so grateful to have read. I literally couldn’t put this book down and I can’t wait to get my hands on the second one!

Although the beginning really caught my attention and with a plot of great potential, I have lost interest in finishing the book and therefore won't be giving it a proper review and will give it a neutral 3 stars.

This was one of the most fun and unique YA fantasies I've read in a while. I loved this entire cast of characters. Odessa was such a fascinating main character and I really enjoyed how the author didn't shy away from her flaw, and showed her struggles with addiction and grief.

Best fantasy I read in a long time. Love this book so much. The characters are family. One should not miss the love and thrill this book has in store. Can't wait for the sequel.

I was able to read this book earlier in the summer, and was given a copy of it from NetGalley.

Reign of the Fallen is an zombie fantasy story, something that I haven't really read before so I was excited to see where this book would go. Unfortunately I found this book to be fairly mediocre, with pieces of the plot being unexplained, slow writing, and characters that never felt very fleshed out. 

I did like some parts of this story, it has an unique world that I was interested in from the start. I liked the idea of having magicians bring the dead back to life and a country that's so stuck in their customs that nothing else is allowed.  I also really liked how Marsh included Odessa's addiction problem, it made Odessa's character much more realistic. Without it I don't think I would have liked her at all.

I think this story had three problems for me. First even though I started reading this book because I heard that Odessa was bisexual, the romance ended up being between Odessa and her dead lover's sister. Which just seemed weird and sort of wrong to me. I liked that Odessa was bi, but I didn't like how the romance worked out. Odessa seems to just latches on to Merdy because she's related to Evander, not because Merdy is a great human that Odessa wants to fall in love with. I was uncomfortable with the whole thing.

Second I found the story had a lot of really slow parts. We're given too many characters and not enough time in which we can get to know them before the plot moves on or they die. While I liked it that Odessa was all consumed by grief and unable to do much, I also found that it was also hard to read because it dragged on. It just seemed like there was more focus on scenes of Odessa hallucinating Evander then moving the plot along. 

And last the whole ending with SPOILER Hadrien made very little sense, and was completely obvious long before the characters figure things out.  If there's anything that will make me dislike the book it's figuring out the plot chapters before the climax happens. Also Hadrien is a very stereotypical villain, as well as pretty dumb in how he goes about trying to defeat Odessa. I just couldn't take him seriously. END SPOILER.

In the end this book was really hard for me to rate. There were parts that I genuinely liked and was invested in, but the ending threw out a lot of those parts for me. I gave Reign of the Fallen 2.5 stars, and 3 stars on Goodreads.

YA fantasy with a very unique plot.
Pros: fun and well written characters. A plot that kept you guessing, multiple LGBTQ characters, including the main character, Sparrow. Lots of time spent dealing with different types of grief.
Critique: I wish the villain were better hidden.

Review being posted on 8/29/18

I ended up getting the audio book of this one from my library.

Oh, fantasy books why can't more of you be like this one?


Reign of the Fallen is full of fantasy elements, friendships, family drama, and real-life problems as well

Odessa is a necromancer who loves her job, or at least she thinks she does. Of course, there are times when she doesn’t love it, but with her love by her side, she knows this is exactly what she wants to do.

This all starts changing though as weird things start happening to Nobles and others that have died. Add in that something happens to her love which leads to more problems for Odessa and then a princess who is bound and determined to help her in order to save the ‘world’.

Overall I couldn’t get enough of this book. I absolutely loved it and this world and how it was built. No overload of information ever happened, it was dispersed throughout the story so we were constantly learning how things worked. This book did also deal with addiction, and loss and broken friendships and betrayal in very real life ways, while also making sure to keep the fantastical elements intact.

I did find myself get some of the characters confused at times, because of how many different ones seemed to appear at the same time. This could have just been because I listened to it on audio.

The friendships and romances of this book were lovely as well. I couldn’t get enough of them, I did find myself having favorites and I really hope they end up being in the second book


The ending of this one was so so nice to see in a YA fantasy. There was no major cliffhanger that left you feeling broken. Yet it was also able to have you wanting to continue to be with these characters and to see what adventures they get up to next!

During the first half of the book, it was really going very nicely for me. But beyond that, I have lost my interest in the book. I couldn't connect with the book anymore, and so I decided to DNF it.

Odessa is a Master Necromancer charged with retrieving the souls of royalty from a dangerous realm called the Deadlands so they can "live" forever (although after being raised, the dead must keep their flesh covered so they don't turn into zombie-like creatures called Shades). When Shades begin attacking with more strength and fervor, Odessa and her fellow necromancers must uncover the reason behind the attacks, and not everyone survives. Reign of the Fallen has an excellent premise and world, and explores grief and addiction in a way that feels sincere. The bisexual representation is also one of this novel's strengths. However, plot execution is somewhat weak, pacing is uneven, and the ending is quite predictable, too predictable for readers to accept that the characters wouldn't be able to figure out who the culprit is sooner.

This book was very exciting and kept me on edge of my seat. How would you survive a land where the elder are revered but if you touch them they become an evil shade? I really enjoyed the drama, plot and characters. The characters had their share of internal weaknesses which made them unique. Great book and storyline.

I can't really find myself moving forward with this book after THAT thing. This is really hard to rate and write a review on. It probably would have worked for me in more ways that it did now if only THAT major thing that happened in the first 100 pages of the book didn't feel too rushed.

BUT I'm not giving up on this. Maybe I wasn't just prepared for that. I'll try rereading it again. For now, I'm giving a 2-star rating saved for the good start.

This was a fun read. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't feel more of a connection with the characters, but the world kept me interested. Necromancers raise the dead and these dead go back to their lives as if nothing has changed, except for the fact that they must stay covered up to avoid becoming a zombie. Upon becoming a zombie, they will attack the living. Chaos is sure to ensue, right? I'm hoping the next book focuses less on the love interest and more on the cool magic system.

I will admit that the first thing that caught my attention was the cover of Reign of the Fallen...it is STUNNING. Then, I read the description and thought it sounded interesting, so I requested it and started reading it as soon as I was approved, but I just could not get into this book. The plot was interesting enough and the characters were ok, but the writing style was definitely not one of my favorites. I don't normally mind first person, but I don't think it was the most effective choice for this story, and I felt like the author kept getting off track from the main plot. There was also a lack of world building which I felt was badly needed. I did really enjoy the lgbt representation in this novel--the main character, Odessa, is bisexual, and that was great considering there is a severe lack of lgbt representation in YA fantasy. Honestly, Odessa and Valoria were the only two characters I found myself somewhat invested in, but not invested enough to love this book. I wish there was more cool necromancer magic or something in this book that would've made it more fun or exciting, but sadly there wasn't. Overall, Reign of the Fallen took way too much time for me to get through, and was lacking good world building and interesting characters--two of the basic necessities for an decent fantasy novel.

I LOVED this book. It's tied for #1 with The Belles as my 2018 favorite.

The story was full of action from start to finish: fight scenes, lovers quarrels, murder, etc. The thing I loved the most was that Odessa was depicted with so many flaws, utterly human.

Fair warning there are LGBTQ relationships, bouts of addiction, magic, and other greatness. If any of those things aren't for you, then skip it. Please don't read it anyway and score it low because it makes you feel icky.

I NEED the second book NOW. I can not wait.