This one just did not work for me. Before I get into that, I do want to say I am in the vast minority with this so I would definitely encourage you to check it out if it sounds interesting to you because this is very much a case of "it's not you it's me."

From the very beginning I was a little bored, to be honest. Something about the writing style just didn't pull me in at all. I was worried that maybe it was just my mood and that's what was making it so difficult, but I picked up another book and was immediately hooked, so it's just a problem of the style not working for me for whatever reason. I felt like things moved too fast, both plot wise and romance wise. I didn't really care about any of the characters, except maybe two, an inventor and a pirate, but they weren't there enough to make the entire thing interesting enough for me. Things would happen to the characters and you're supposed to be hurt with them, but I felt nothing. Odessa is kinda supposed to be this super great necromancer, but the only thing that's special is she can navigate the Deadlands really well - which is never explained, she just has a tug in her stomach that can lead her through the Deadlands. There's another necromancer who has a super interesting power, but that's not really explored either (even when there's a PERFECT chance to explore it). The worldbuilding was cool - this is a kingdom that hates change so everything has stayed the same for hundreds of years and the reasoning behind that, along with the necromancy, was interesting. I'm not one to usually care that much about worldbuilding, though, and for that to be one of the main positives for me is kinda sad. I'm more of a character reader and this book just didn't give me characters I could really care about, so I ended up being disappointed.

Like I said, I would definitely still check this out if you're interested! The main character is openly bisexual and there's a gay side character who's in a committed relationship with another man and they aren't discriminated against in any way, which was really nice.

Reign of the Fallen is an action packed fantasy, which pulls the reader into an immediate mystery wondering what happened to cause an experienced necromancer to enter the Deadlands alone and thus end up killed by Shades. The main character, Odessa, is a bi-sexual necromancer, who loves her necromancer partner, Evander. Odessa and Evander start investigating right away after discovering the death of the master necromancer.

The world building in Reign of the Fallen alone makes this book a joy to read. We encounter necromancers, dead royalty, a beast mage with a bear, and the hint of unchartered waters and worlds. There is also a range of emotions in Reign of the Fallen as our main character deals with deaths of those she loves, genocide, and betrayal.

Reign of the Fallen is a captivating swashbuckler of a novel with a ton of heart.

Fantasy with a bisexual narrator? Yes, please, I adored the world-building and character development, but I felt the secondary romance was incredibly rushed, and I felt it was a little squicky that she moved on with her dead semi-fiance's younger sister.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book but it just left me feeling dead...inside... The premise sounded great but it just didn't deliver for me. The main character was boring, the romance was just silly and predictable. The whole plot didn't make sense, the whole region isn't allowed to change or leave? That is just implausible.

I gave two stars because it was nice having a gender and sexuality equal world that didn't use those subjects as "character builders".

This novel is an example of a world that seeminglessly interweaves sexuality into their society. This is the example through which our society should seek to emulate. The sexuality of the main character does not define her, but is an element of her. She is still strong, vivacious, and a dedicated young woman. Her emotional journey is one many individuals can relate to who have experienced pain in their life’s.

I really enjoyed this book. The story is unique involving necromancers and zombies and I thought it was a lot of fun adventure. The main character Odessa was awesome and while I was frustrated with her downward spiral it was so real and she still managed to come back and be a badass, I can’t not love her. Princess Valoria was one of my favorite characters maybe of all time, I absolutely love her. She is strong and smart and doesn’t take crap from anyone while passionately caring for her friends. The characters were definitely one of the strongest parts of this book and I love that. They are all awesome and strong and powerful and it was great to read them. The story did get a little predictable but it didn’t make me enjoy it any less. And I felt too much time was spent in Odessa’s depression and while I get that it’s how people work sometimes and the realistic descriptions were wonderful, I still just didn’t like seeing her push her friends away and lie to the people around her because the actual story of what was going on around her seemed to completely get pushed to the back burner and slowed the story down a lot. Once we got past that I liked the story much better. This book was a surprise since I kind of accidentally picked it out but it turned out to be a great read with tons of action packed fighting and badass characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital ARC of “Reign of the Fallen” by Sarah Glenn Marsh. This book did not grab my attention. It felt much like other books in the genre I have read before. I think that those newer to the genre will enjoy it though and find its twists unexpected.

From the first paragraph until the end, Reign of the Fallen was a book I just couldn't put down. I felt like I fell into a special world I wanted to be a part of. It was so well written with a main character you in turn rooted for, ached for and, at times, wanted to slap. But she was never boring. The story was entertaining and different with a very unique cast of characters. And, for once, having sexually diverse characters was just part of the story and did not feel forced or gimmicky, as has been the case with other books lately. And that cover—beautiful!

Basically, this book was a well written, fun, escapist romp with great characters.