The story premise is fascinating and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel. Also I’d like to see more of Meredy and her bear, Lysander, to know more about their connection. Some chapters from their point of view would be fun.

3.5 stars

Plot: Reign of the Fallen took place in a world where individuals were blessed with powers based on their god. There were necromancers, beast masters, and those who didn't have any special powers. The necromancers were most sought out because they had the power to bring the world of the living - of course for a price.

Unsurprisingly, Reign of the Fallen was nonstop action which made it hard for me to put down. The pacing was just right and left just enough open to be explored in the next installment(s). While that's all good, I found the plot to be extremely predictable. I guessed the conspiracy and waited impatiently for Odessa to catch up with the rest of us. Once the conspiracy came to light, it was too easy for Odessa to piece the puzzle together, from a few choice interactions in the past.

Characters: I enjoyed Odessa because she was flawed and emotional. Her responses weren't always logical, but they made her human and I loved that she wasn't afraid to be vulnerable. I was; however, expecting more from the secondary characters. I was expecting a crew as tight as the Dregs, but unfortunately, I found all of the other characters to be non-existent. In all of their interactions, Marsh would make reference to how close their relationships were, but I never saw how close they were in present interactions, and that was the most disappointing.

There was a romance, and it was great how sexually open how all of the characters were. I wanted to love the romance, but it was too obvious too quickly. There were moments of intense blushing and long stares and that doesn't sell a romance for me.

Worldbuilding: Karthia was a fascinating world, I mean the motto was that change was bad! I wanted to learn so much more about the world than was actually given. I'm happy that there is plenty of potential for future books, but all of this open-endedness just made the book feel incomplete.

Short N Sweet: Reign of the Fallen will be a hit for many action-oriented readers, I just wanted more.

I always feel bad when I DNF a book, but this is my third of the year. I don't have time to waste on books that can't hold my interest. I usually always try to pick them up again to make sure it wasn't just my mood at the time. I'll try this book again later on. But for now, I DNF'd this at 20%.

I was pretty confused reading this from the get-go. I felt like the thoughts jumped around, the characters didn't reflect the emotions I felt they should, and some of the writing stylistically did not work for me.

There is a jump scene in chapter two (I think? It didn't read like a flashback, but it was a completely different scene from what had gone on a second ago.) and it bothered me immensely. I don't know enough about the characters to feel anything for them in a flashback.

A lot (and nothing at all, really) happened in the first 5 chapters. I felt it didn't bode well for the story. I, personally, felt like it was a false start - it would have worked better as a scene BEFORE the book, or further into the story.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2201139133?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

I enjoyed reading Reign of the Fallen. The action was well-paced, the storyline was great and I think the characters were very well developed. I did see the plot-twist coming but I think the hints were laid out to the reader more than the characters. I appreciated the grief process that Odessa goes through, that is not done very much in other books and I think approximately one-fourth of the book was based on Odessa’s loss and journey through the grief process. I would recommend this for fantasy readers and those who like magic, mystery and slow burn romance. This book has LGBT+ romances in it - bisexual, lesbian, gay. If you enjoyed reading Sabriel and necromantic magic, you would enjoy this story.

(2.5 stars) This book was one of my most anticipated releases for 2018, so I want you to understand where my immense disappointment is coming from — because I didn't give it a really bad rating, and I don't think it's a bad book, but I am very disappointed.

First of all, to clear up the vague "LGBT romance" line from the blurb: Odessa is bisexual has two love interests, one male and one female. There are also minor gay characters. No trans characters as far as I remember, so no, it's not really LGBT, just LGB.

I did like the second romance in this book, but the first one had me rolling my eyes with how much it bored me. And that's a problem, because if you want the character's emotions at losing the first love interest to really impact the reader, it's probably good if we cared about them in the first place, right?

Actually, so many relationships in this book made me feel completely underwhelmed. Odessa's supposedly extremely old and deep friendships with her fellow mages were fine on a basic level, but struck no emotional cord with me until the end, which is too late. And the friendship she makes within the book, with Princess Valoria, was... well, I could feel the author wanting this to be deep and epic and strong, and I wanted it to be too, but the thing that stood out most was a line when Valoria told Odessa how much she'd helped her realize her own worth, and I was thinking, "Wow! Wish we saw that!" because the maybe two lines of Odessa telling Valoria not to underestimate herself were not nearly enough to make it as deep and epic and strong as this should have been.

I wanted more. I wanted to feel these emotional connections in my soul, and I didn't.

As for world building: if you're going to tell me that one of the five faces of your god, the face of Change, has gone dark and therefore for hundreds of years not a single change has been allowed in this country, I want that explained! I want to know what makes them think the face of change is gone, I want to know how this effects day to day life, I want to know how the slow, almost unnoticeable changes that take place without people thinking are stopped, I want to know if people rebel against this! This isn't an idea you can casually throw out there and then not explain or barely explore at all, especially not if you want the arc of this idea to have any emotional weight at the end of the book.

The idea of change being banned was one of the most interesting things I was promised about this book. So the entire time... I just felt cheated.

The thought I keep coming back to is, "I would have enjoyed this book more if it never promised all this awesome worldbuilding in the first place." Then I could have just sat back and enjoyed the plot. But instead I spent the whole time keeping one eye out for these cool ideas to be addressed at some point, and it never happened. The book cared more about the plot than where the plot took place, and that's a shame. I read fantasy because I want to be someplace breathtaking and original. This book is fantasy because it's convenient for the plot.

But even when the plot suffered for lack of worldbuilding, it refused to delve into its own ideas. There's this whole thing with people's eye colors determining what magic they can use — it's the foundation of the magic system. So finding out that there's types of magic completely outside this system they've never questioned should shock the characters and us, right? Not in practice, because it's accepted with only vague and quickly forgotten surprise by the characters, and with eye-rolling by the reader because it's hard to be surprised by new facts about the magic system when you barely knew anything about it in the first place.

There were some plot twists that came as a surprise, at least. But the big reveal of the villain is made obvious far before Odessa finds out, which just feels lazy. It needed more subtlety.

The whole book felt half-finished and underdeveloped. It was okay. Probably even good, if you go in without my expectations, and it has canon gay and bi female characters, which is even better. But this world is shallow and the characters don't feel original or developed enough. I wanted it to be so much more interesting than it was.

Odessa is a rare type of mage: a necromancer. She can resurrect the dead. But not without a price – if any part of the dead’s body is seen by the living, the dead person turns into a Shade (think of an unholy combination between a Demogorgon and Venom, or, if you must, a zombie). When Odessa’s mentor mage turns up brutally murdered by a Shade, and other murders quickly follow, Odessa knows she has to do something before the Shades kill everyone she holds dear.

I have extremely mixed feelings about this book. There were things I really liked, and things that didn’t work for me at all. One of my issues was the severe lack of character development – Odessa and two other characters get some level development, everyone else is more or less a name on a page. So when people started dying, I didn’t really care. Odessa, however, cares a lot and spends a lot of time addicted to pain medication and grieving, which would have been a lot more interesting to read if I knew her at all as a character. For me, this plot line would’ve been better in a future series installment. There’s a lot of romance, and I liked some of it (Simeon and Danial for LIFE), and some of it annoyed me (Odessa and Evander, I’m looking at you). There’s a romance at the end that was excellent, but began a bit too soon for me – I could’ve done with the characters not getting together in this book, especially given their circumstances. I did like the diversity in the ethnicities of the characters as well as in the relationships.

I really enjoyed the worldbuilding. None of it was particularly new, per say, but it was all sort of assembled in a way that I thought was really rich and creative. I just wish that worldbuilding had been backed up by stronger characters and plot. Odessa spends a ton of time grieving, which makes sense, but didn’t exactly make for an exciting plot. That, and the deaths and twists were pretty transparently telegraphed. The identity of the proverbial “bad guy” was pretty obvious as soon as they appeared on the scene.

While this book didn’t work for me on a lot of levels, I think most readers will love it. There’s action, romance (LGBT+), diversity, and some seriously cool worldbuilding. 2.5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Razorbill for providing me with an electronic copy for review consideration.

*Note: I'll post this book two weeks out from publication date as that is when it will become available for patrons to put on hold.

Odessa, Sparrow, and her partner Evander are necromancers. They work together to bring the dead back to life. In this world, the king has an unending reign, because he is continuously brought back from the dead. Necromancers need to be extremely careful, because the dead can turn into shades, if they are looked upon or are alive for too long. To combat the shade transformation (envision zombie virus) necromancers need to kill and revive the dead. Things turn deadly, when shades begin appearing more frequently and killing more people. Something in this world has changed and Odessa must figure it out.

This world was well developed and well written. I had difficulty connecting to the characters. I didn't find myself interested in what happened to them, or hopeful for their success/safety. I had trouble connecting to the romantic interests. Though, I appreciated the inclusion of many types of sexuality

First of all, LOOK AT THAT COVER. It is absolutely gorgeous and what initially drew me in automatically adding it to my 'must reads of 2018' regardless of what the synopsis said. A good cover can automatically set the bar high for me, which is a recipe for disaster in many cases. Not in the case of Reign of the Fallen.

This book has a little bit of everything. Danger, Romance, Blood and Guts, Revenge, Beauty, Sorrow, Friendship, Frenemies. LGBTQ. My favorite thing about this that no one is invincible. I feel like most fantasy novels have one or two characters who are just unbreakable and that is unrealistic and boring to me. Give me adversity! Reign of the Fallen definitely has adversity. The magic in this world is incredible - I hope to learn more about the sights in the next book. The world building is incredible. I can't imagine a time I would've ever said, "there's a place called the Deadlands and it sounds amazing!" but...there's a place called the Deadlands and it sounds amazing! Sarah Glenn Marsh created such an interesting world, and I can only see it getting better as they branch out of Karthia.

Substance abuse is an issue that is tackled in the book, which is not the norm for fantasy novels. I mean, Haymitch was a drunk, but it was never *really* addressed just noted that District 13 was dry. RotF tackles a full on addiction and I'd call it one of the centerpieces of the book.

The relationship aspect has a little of everything for everyone. There are hetero relationships, same sex relationships, friends becoming more ships, enemies becoming more ships.

There are zombies, there are monsters, there is a woman who's magic involves being able to control animals and that is AWESOME.

Gender equality is a thing in this book!

Odessa was extremely well-written. I want Valoria to be my best friend. I want to drink beers with Jax. I wish Master Cymbre would've been my teacher. Kasmira seems like the kind of girl I'd find myself wanting to kiss because she seems so damn cool.

All in all, I have nothing bad to say about this book. The only thing I can say that slightly took me down a notch is that I figured out the "bad seed" early-ish on, which I rarely do. So I'm not sure if that's a sign that it's easy to figure out or if I really do belong in Karthia fighting alongside the necromancers ;)

I really enjoyed this book. The pace was great, the mystery was interesting, and the characters really made me want to learn more. It had a good twist in the middle, and that added to the story. If there will be a sequel, I look forward to reading it.

What I loved most about Reign of the Fallen was our main character, Sparrow, who is on one hand, super talented at being her bad ass necromancer self, and also a bit selfish. Her personal growth was so amazing to witness because she has to learn to handle her grief and still find purpose. Seriously. It was so amazing to witness our main heroine who is both legendary, but also incredibly fallible and vulnerable. Here's to humanity.

And diversity because not only is Sparrow bisexual, but most of the other characters are also queer. There's a m/m relationship and f/f relationship too. Having read Reign of the Fallen for my first book completed in 2018 was a real breath of fresh air. The romances were soft and sweet and the female friendship at the heart of the second half of the book is what my dreams are made of.

What I enjoyed -
- The sexual fluidity in this story. The heroine in this story is attracted to many regardless of their gender and I appreciated that. It’s not something new to me, as I read romance, but I enjoy seeing it in a YA read.
- The lore of the story and Karthia. It’s just an interesting starting point which I’ve never read before. The zombie story written in a new way. The Royalty being mostly made up of undead was interesting, and how a living blood royal had to join the necromancers to bring the dead back from the deadlands. But it’s risky since living can’t touch or see the shrouded undead or they will turn into uncontrollable blood thirsty shades. It’s like one of those is the reward of bringing loved ones back worth the risk of them turning shade? I love that’s Karthia has like its own “big debate,” even though it’s not an outwardly spoken debate. It’s just an interesting way to show how even in book life people can be split.
- I loved some of the side characters. Valoria, Evander, and Jax.

What I didn’t love -
- Odessa. She’s the heroine, and while there were bits I enjoyed about her. I think the timeline didn’t allow for her character development to be relatable or enjoyable. She has tragedy and struggles, but they are hard to relate to because of the timing and the short timeline this story is on.
- Some of the rules of bringing people back just didn’t make sense to me. I understand they had to be that way for the story to work, but they just frustrated me. I feel like had everyone been on equal playing ground with bringing loved ones back then this story could have been way more entertaining and tragic in ways.
- I didn’t LOVE Odessa’s love interest. It just didn’t feel right in the grand scheme of things. I think it’s hinted at fairly early on like before it’s even known as an option. I know some people enjoy the pairing, but I felt very meh about it.

All in all this was a great YA read. To me it felt unique and different in so many ways. I don’t read as much YA fantasy as some people, so I’m not sure what other books I could compare this to. I do think that anyone who enjoys angsty YA, with action, blood shed, zombies, royalty, and the question of to change or not to change... then this is a story you will enjoy.

I know there is another book listed to come out, and I REALLY REALLY hope that it is a change in main character. Like maybe a certain recently promoted royal would be a good one to follow? Hint. Hint.

Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh

First book in the Reign of the Fallen series

3 stars
Odessa is a master necromancer for the kingdom of Karthia. She is tasked alongside her partner and lover, Evander, with bringing back King Wylding- the dead king who has rule Karthia continuously. He is killed and brought by to life countless times to continue his reign. His soul is in the Deadlands and it must be brought back, but there is a price to be a soul outside of the Deadlands. The souls risk becoming Shades- monstrous creatures who feed off life. Shade attacks are rising at an alarming rate and someone is conspiring to raise Shades intentionally. Will Odessa’s skill as a necromancer be enough to save Karthia? Meh. I thought I was going to love this one. It has a promising premise and it sounds super awesome, but in all honesty, Reign of the Fallen is boring. It is lackluster in plot, description, and character development. I could not be bothered to really care what was happening to the characters because I did not care about what would happen. The stakes were high, but the character development was so lacking that the high stakes didn’t make for an unputdownable read. For instance, the world building, especially the descriptions of the Deadlands, were lacking in fullness. It felt as though the reader should already be familiar with this conceptual world and should know exactly what Marsh was describing. This caused Reign of the Fallen to read more like a sequel than the starting book in a series. I will give Marsh one thing: she is not afraid to kill off characters. This is only book one and very integral characters were killed off. It made the plot a little wonky, to be honest, but it also made me respect how ballsy Marsh is as an author. She is not afraid to take risks and chances with her characters. It’s very admirable. The downside is that the characters are so lackluster that I did not care what their fates were. However, Marsh’s strong suit is battle scenes. The battle scenes start out early and are very strong. It made for very thrilling chapters, but it quickly became boring when they weren’t fighting.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 3

The main female character is Odessa. I honestly don’t have much to say about Odessa. I thought her character development left much to be desired. At times I liked her and at others it felt as if she wasn’t really a character, but a grieving or killing machine. There was no in between. Either Odessa was wracked with grief or she was seeking vengeance and wanted to kill everything in her path. It wasn’t effective.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 2.5

Reign of the Fallen has incredibly diverse characters. Odessa is bisexual. Her two male friends are in a very healthy strong relationship. Meredy, an eventual love interest, is lesbian. There is a lot of representation in this fantasy novel, which is great because fantasy is not as diverse as one would think, but it is getting there.


SPOILERS ABOUND So, Odessa’s first relationship is with Evander. They have been together for a very long time and have a strong passionate relationship. Evander is killed in the Deadlands by a Shade relatively early on and it causes Odessa to experience a lot of grief and pain. This leads to making a lot of misguided and uncomfortable romantic decisions that made me feel a little icky. First problem: Odessa starts a friends with benefits relationship with Jax, Evander’s best friend, to help fill the void of Evander’s death. It doesn’t take long for this to occur and it made me really uncomfortable because it is one of my least favorite tropes when characters hook up to cope with grief or heartache. It is not effective and it actually causes more damage than healing. So, that left a sour taste in my mouth. Then, Odessa falls into instalove with Evander’s sister, Meredy. Talk about awkward. My biggest problem with this is best described by this quote,
“Not after we’ve finally started talking about Evander, sharing memories to keep him with us. Not after… well, everything she’s become to me.”
It’s just too much. If Meredy was anyone else in the court it wouldn’t be awkward, but it’s her dead lover’s sister. It’s just so uncomfortable and every time I would get over it and start to think their relationship was cute, she would mention Meredy and Evander looking similar and I felt creeped out again. It made me wonder if Odessa actually has feelings for Meredy or if she is trying to recapture Evander by being in a relationship with someone so similar to him.


So, yeah. That was the biggest problem I had with this novel. The love interests were just… odd. However, Valoria was a really cool character and I really enjoyed her friendship with Odessa. I just wanted to see more of their friendship outside of the little bit we did.


Character Scale: 2.5

I do think a lot of people will love and adore the Reign of the Fallen. I just wasn’t one of them. The good news is that it ends like a standalone novel and I don’t feel like have to pick up the sequel, which is nice because I don’t think I will. I have a feeling this will be a favorite for a lot of fantasy fans and I look forward to seeing everyone’s excitement over this novel once it’s released.


Plotastic Scale: 3.25

Cover Thoughts: I LOVE this cover. It’s fabulous.

Thank you, Razorbill/ Penguin for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book, but I thought some of the relationships felt forced, I won't go into detail to avoid spoilers. I did think the world created in this story was very interesting and creative. I also look forward to the sequels.

I have very strange feelings about this book and I’m pretty sure I’m going to struggle to try to articulate them. I liked a lot about Reign of the Fallen but at the same time, a lot of it fell just short of hitting its mark. I found the world and the magic exciting, and I enjoyed the main character. But there were some ideas I felt weren’t fully fleshed out, as well as some characters who were underdeveloped.

First, I just really enjoyed the concept of necromancy as it was shown in this book. I don’t usually reach for necromancer characters, but I don’t avoid them either. That said, I have very little experience with this type of magical character, so for me, the way Marsh handled it was new and exciting. I’ve only ever seen necromancers raise corpses into zombie-like beings, through magic. But the necromancers of this world actually travel through gates into the Deadlands where spirits roam before moving on entirely and bring the spirit back to its body. I’ve never read anything quite like this particular version of the afterlife and it was very intriguing.

I also liked that the mystery surprised me a bit. I thought for sure that there was going to be a twist for one character to turn out bad, but that twist happened to a different character entirely. I was paying such close attention to the wrong person that I totally missed any signs that may have been planted, foreshadowing this person’s guilt.

The magic system in Reign of the Fallen is a bit underdeveloped for my taste. For example, Odessa, the main character, is known for her ability to navigate the Deadlands. A “pull at her navel” directs her where to go. But this was never explained throughout the whole book. Not all necromancers have this ability – in fact, she’s the only one. So I would have liked to see that explained somehow. What we did get to see explained, I really liked though. The magic was tied to eye color. Necromancers have blue eyes; beastmages have green eyes; inventors have brown eyes. There were a few others, too, but those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. There was also always a price for the magic done. For examples, necromancers cannot be raised after death. They have one life. This brought an interesting bit of conflict to a number of the necromancer characters and is definitely something I think I’d struggle with if I lived in that world. Though I’d be an inventor, lol.

My biggest problem with the book was that there was so much potential, but so much felt underdeveloped, particularly the ideas it seemed it wanted to address. King Wylding, the ruler of Karthia has ruled for centuries, being raised from death over and over again. He is very stuck in his ways and has gone so far as to erase one of the sides of their five-faced god – the face of Change. He overrules anyone who tries to better Karthia in any way, including the inventions of one of his descendants, Valoria. She created sewer systems to rid waste from the communities, thus eliminating illnesses. But he shut her down because that would mean Change. This idea seemed heavy-handed in the beginning of the book but was mostly dropped after about a third of the story. Wylding is shown as extremely loving and benevolent. He’s well-loved by his people. But I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why. He wouldn’t even let Karthian citizens leave; no one in the entire kingdom knows what lies beyond their shores. It’s very strange and never, ever explained. Why was Wylding like this, and why was it celebrated while his people suffered?

The characters were also underdeveloped to me. I liked Odessa enough, but she did a few things that were out of character, and at a lot of major points she really annoyed me. Especially during big battle scenes where she would narrate the action while holding the sword that could stop the attack. I couldn’t figure out why she just stood there and let people get hurt instead of swinging her damn blade. Mostly, though, I wanted some background. We know she is an orphan and one of the master necromancers was her mentor growing up. I’m unused to having orphans in fantasy settings without their parentage being revealed in a big way. Her upbringing did lead her to her job as a necromancer and I did like how that tied together.

There were a handful of side characters, and in my opinion, too many. I don’t feel like I got to know the other necromancers well at all. And not a single one of them seemed to have motivations outside of helping Odessa in whatever quest she had tasked herself with. They listened to her orders for no real reason other than that they liked her. The only person who really stood up to Odessa’s ridiculousness was her love interest, Meredy, a beast mage who was amazing. She’s seriously such an interesting character who had been through hell and back. Also, she had a grizzly bear as her familiar which YES. I really liked Meredy’s sass and take-no-shit attitude. I loved her, even more, when she showed her vulnerable side, especially in her friendship with Valoria. However, the ship really grossed me out because she is Odessa’s dead boyfriend’s sister. Evander died in the first quarter of the book and Odessa mourns him throughout the rest of the story. Meredy reminds Odessa of Evander at every turn. They smile alike, they look alike, they shared an upbringing. It just made me uncomfortable, and when Odessa said she wanted to taste Meredy, “to see if she tastes like Evander,” it really sent me over the edge. I don’t unship it, but it squicks me out a lot. Which is a shame, because they do go so well together. I just wish Marsh hadn’t made the choice to have the love interests be siblings. There were ways around the story without that detail. « Hide Spoiler

In the end, I do plan on keeping up with the series and seeing where it goes. It ended on a very open note, one that leaves me guessing where the series is going to go. I liked Odessa’s choice at the end, and her reasons why, but I wish she had gone about it differently. In any case, I actually have a few theories as to where Odessa is headed both physically and in her heart.

This was not my favorite book of the year, but it was fun and fast-paced. I loved the diversity of the main character and the side characters. Odessa is bisexual; Meredy is a lesbian I believe. There is at least one other wlw character, and an m/m side couple, plus a wide range of racial diversity as well. If you’re looking for more fantasy in that vein or fantasy with a fun twist on necromancy, this is definitely one to check out.

This book. Wow. I am blown away by how gorgeous and intricate this world is. This is one of the most original fantasy worlds I've seen in awhile. All these characters were phenomenal and I appreciated each of them. The side characters contributed to the story and weren't just there for more word count (which is my biggest pet peeve).

I was so floored when I heard the premise. An LGBTQ+ fantasy? I want more of these and I was so in love with this romance. I want more badass women who get the girl in the end. It's such a positive message for LGBTQ+ youth and we need more of that in publishing.

The cover is honestly stunning and I can't stop staring at it. As much as we like to say not to judge a book by its cover, we do it anyways.

This was totally up my alley! Necromancers don't get enough love or attention in the literature world. I love the fact that even though Odessa can be the "tough chick" while still getting to have a soft side. I'm all for having sexual equality but I have to admit that this felt a little forced and kind of thrown in badly. The rest of the story was wonderful. Keep it up Sarah!

The kingdom of Karthia is ruled by the dead and sustained by the living, and mediated by those with the Sight. It is a world so perfectly balanced that change itself has been forcibly banished: the undead King Wylding has decreed that all remain as it was when he lived, and for two hundred years it has remained so, thanks in no small part to the ice-eyed necromancers who serve the king.

Odessa is a particularly gifted necromancer, one who can innately sense the ever-shifting locations of the deadlands. She values her work and is valued in turn, favored by the king as his "sparrow," one who swiftly returns him from his periodic dips into death. He and those like him, the undead in command of their faculties, are prone to madness the more time they spend outside the deadlands and so must repeatedly die to refresh themselves. But the process is not without danger: if anyone living glimpses the flesh of the dead, those dead become mindless horrors called Shades, and all their wisdom turns to hunger.

But Odessa and her fellow necromancers are beyond careful to never let that happen. Yet despite their precautions, Shades and deaths are rising. In such a tormented world, is it possible to keep faith with the dead and the living? Is it better to hold on, or to let go?

I was promised a book that exploded gender boundaries (see jacket quote), but this really just features plenty of gay, bi, and lesbian characters. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled we now can have books where this is pervasive and un-remarked-upon. But it's not really exploding any boundaries. There are gay people. Their romances are sweet and fraught and loving, each depending more on the individuals in them than any sort of tokenism. I love it, but it's not exactly an explosion--and honestly, I prefer it that way.

Moving on: We're told that Odessa loves life, that she cared even for insects and shrubs, and that she loves to dance and drink and have fun. But that supposed exuberance hardly penetrates the narrative voice. Odessa seems affectionate but not passionate, and driven but not terribly happy or deeply in love with the world. Much is made of her strong emotions, but--and perhaps this says more about me than the book--none of her reactions seem out of proportion. Unwise, perhaps, but not excessive. Nevertheless, I enjoyed following her through this world.

The writing is adequate to the story but not anything compelling on its own. I appreciate the effort put into the depictions of grief but it all just ends up seeming rather perfunctory. The broad swaths are there, but anyone who has experienced deep loss will be looking for particularity and reflection, and find themselves not entirely satisfied.

Sarah Glenn Marsh also takes on the topic of drug abuse, but I get the impression that Marsh hasn't done her research. The character who experiences it has some hallucinations, but also some nice friends who chain her to a bed, and then she's functional again, whee! Even if the author is trying to be delicate, this addiction and withdrawal is too pristine. We know she ups her dosage, but we don't really feel her cravings. We know she is pained by withdrawal, but don't see her vomiting, sweating, weeping. Marsh does too much telling rather than showing, and since we don't see the physical toll, the emotional toll is limited.

It's also just so compressed. Grief leads to a potent addiction, and then intervention, withdrawal and recovery within a few weeks. But it's so pat that it ends up seeming like this is all a straightforward, totally reasonable process, when in reality it's anything but.

Actually, the entire book is just a little too compressed. We don't get a chance for breath from the action, and neither do the characters, meaning that no one takes the time to step back and consider larger issues. There's the very large issue of whether the dead are worth the potential risk of Shades, and then there are the issues of trust, danger, and romance that characters are constantly reacting to, but rarely acting upon. This makes them seem more foolish than they ought to be, even the minor ones.

The most unfortunate example of this is when the nobles openly turn against the necromancers, which makes very little sense, since they depend utterly on the necromancers to raise them from the dead. There are literally no other alternatives. Why antagonize the people who can decide to leave you dead instead of resurrecting you? Or, even if you suspect them of a plot, why confront them about it directly? The dead don't seem to be any wiser than the living, and it's a mystery why the status quo has held for so long. Sure, the king has outlawed change (the exact nature of which is never explicit, since some things, like altering security and promoting people, seems fine), but we never see consequences for violating that. We don't see suppressed rebellions or detainment of potential escapees.

Perhaps this is a meditation on complacency, but we do see plenty of reasons to despise the status quo. Plague, poverty, inequality--and let's not underestimate humans' natural inclination to change. So what exactly is holding people back? How could one king be so beloved that citizens would endure decade after decade of the same thing? I'm not saying that King Wylding isn't appealing, but we don't see evidence of such superlative greatness that would justify outlawing change itself.

King Wylding isn't the villain, though. One of the villains is...well, if you've read any of the Sabriel books, particularly Clariel, you will see some similarities. I sighed when I read it. This book doesn't really want to draw comparisons with Garth Nix, because it will lose.

The denouement and climax are predictable and poorly paced. Also, even though his methods are stupid (wrong too, but mostly stupid), I agree with the villain. Not in a oh-but-he's-so-hot-and-misunderstood way; in an actual, factual, his-ideas-are-superior way. Odessa decides that he's mad, but I think he's insightful. In another story, he's the hero. Oh, he ruins it by being unnecessarily violent, but I think that was needed to make this even seem like a reasonable fight. And that's disappointing, because the ideas are in conflict with the execution (pun intended) and the whole thing becomes an emotional muddle, though a readable one.

This is a good effort from Marsh, but I don't think she's gone deep enough with her characters or the topics. The world, the ideas, and the motivations are all there, but the execution doesn't elevate them. Perhaps if we return to this world and see what happens a little further on in time, or long before the era of No Change, we might find some challenges really worth exploring.

Thank you NG for the ARC digital edition.
I am generally not a fan of things involving necromancers or raising the dead. The entire idea to me is off-putting as I was raised in a funeral home.
This book, however, enthralled me from page 1. The characters, the details, the loss, love, addiction, heartbreak, all revolved around the necromancy and ongoing troubles in the world in a way that made the plot advance without dragging. It also provided enough plot that you were hungry for more, not feeling rushed.
The LGBT characters never felt forced or generic. The sex of their partners wasn't the focus as much as who they loved. The addiction struggles felt real and were explained really well for anyone who hasn't suffered through the fight. Each character was independent enough to be their own person. The world building was sufficient to feel like it's own place, despite using words like "air balloon". The magic wasn't a fix-it-all solution to all their problems, which is a problem we see a lot in fantasy novels.
Overall I was very impressed with the book, and had a hard time putting it down.

The world created in 'Reign of the Fallen' was immediately engrossing. The system of magic was unique and implied a broader scope than was covered in this book- leaving it open for an excellent sequel. While I found the 'who-done-it' question and easy one to guess the answer to as the book neared its end, I cared so much about the characters by that point that I wanted to see it resolved. The real draw of this book for me is that it portrays young people who are bisexual, straight, and gay as equally 'ordinary' in their romance and their society takes little not of the difference.