This cover really drew me in, but I didn't end up enjoying the story as much as I had hoped. I couldn't get into the story or the characters.

I'm very interested in these characters, but having a hard time getting through the book. I'm definitely going to pick this one up whenever I can get my hands on an audiobook copy, because I think I'll really like it, however reading is just not working out for me. I want to be able to review this book subjectively when I can, which is why I'm going to drop it for now, and pick it up once I get an audiobook. This book comes off to me as one that would be easier to understand via the spoken word, and I want to enjoy the book as much as I can! I'll update my review and feature it on my page if I like it, when that time comes :)

I gave up at about 30% then skimmed and read the last couple of chapters. The writing is fine and the world is interesting, but the plot was a little slow for me and I lost interest. I could find myself coming back to this and rereading before the sequel comes out because that was quite an ending. This book has great LGBTQIA+ rep and definitely a gorgeous cover,

I don't always enjoy multiple POVs but We All Fall Down was definitely the exception. This story was so refreshingly new and different and the characters were so loveable.

I devoured this book. It one of the most unique books I’ve read in a long, long time. It’s so well done. We All Fall Down is about four characters who live on an island called River City. The island is basically a sovereign nation — US laws do not apply. And yes, the book takes place in current day. However, most technology does not work very well on the island. There’s no connection to outside internet, cellphones don’t work well, etc. It’s all explained by saying the island’s bedrock messes with newer and more complicated technology.

At the beginning of a novel, there is a flashback scene that sets up the entire story. The previous King dies, and his wife, the Maiden, dies giving birth to their children. This is our start.

Lemme pause here and say that if you don’t like stories where fate is a thing, you probably won’t like this one. The whole book is about fate, and how the ‘wheel’ will continue to turn regardless of what people try to do to influence it. Fate says there must be four players: The King, The Hero, The Maiden, and the Monster. We meet everyone by the end of the novel.

David, is a huge black man who works at the University as a physicist. He’s studying magic without really realizing that’s what he’s doing. Jesse has a unique power — they can physically turn from a male to female body and back again at will. They are a bright little sunshiney cinnamon roll, and I love them. Jack is a buff, tough woman who works for the local crime lord. She’s got a hard exterior, but is a little squishy underneath. Turing is…I don’t want to spoil it, but she’s different. She’s had a very rough life, and is sheltered because of it. Each of the characters has their own definite story line, and they’re all very well rounded. I do wish we got a little more information on Jack, but perhaps that’s coming in the next book.

There is not a single straight person in this book. It’s fantastic. The writing is mysterious and shadowing feeling without being frustratingly vague. I cannot wait to read the next one, whenever it comes out. I am dying to get some more answers regarding fate in this world!

While I did not like the beginning scene, with a graphic birth scene, blood and all, the rest of the book panned out well! I really loved Jesse, especially, and David. I wanted to explore more of the magic and the physics of the magic with David, and found myself disappointed that there weren’t more scenes with David lecturing.

The chapters jump between points of view but not always in the same order. Sometimes, there were multiple chapters in a row from Jack’s POV, or Turing. Jesse was skipped over several times, as was David. I would have liked a proper round, jumping from character to character, even if what they were doing wasn’t considered super important. Jesse works at the club without us peeking in at them for several chapters, while I would have liked more exploration of their gender identity and growing confidence. I felt we skipped a lot of their character development in favor of plot, when they had such a strong beginning.

I didn’t like that some chapters started in second person point of view, referring to ‘you’ as in me, the reader. It’s one of my peeves in writing, when a book does this. It feels cheap and annoying, and a little condescending.

I was intrigued by the return of magic, if a little confused about the mechanism of the return. How is the magic supposed to work? Why does it work the way it does? What was Astrid trying to do? What about Nathan, the old king? Were he and Astrid together and what does that mean? The first chapter set a very different tone than the rest of the book became, and perhaps I would have enjoyed that book more.

I rate this book at 3.5 stars out of 5. I loved Jesse and David, as well as the setting. The monsters were fascinating, as was their posited reason for existing in this world. I love th idea of a city where people can go to run away, where they can give up something to be fixed, to be given what they need. It’s all very clandestine and ominous. Is it worth it? What sort of magic is at play here?

I had not read Rose Szabo’s previous book, but I will definitely pick it up now. I loved the intersection of fantasy and science and of family and found-family. The characters were all complex and though it isn’t told through first person narrators, each chapter follows one of the character masterfully. David’s scientific persistence, Turing’s fragility, Jack’s confidence, and Jesse’s enduring hope created a varied and touching cast. The world building is unique and imaginative. The thoughtful discussion of gender and sexuality engage the readers is a new and important way to think about language and identity. I highly recommend this book. Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC.

Magic, history, and the roles we are given. This is a story following four people who want to restore magic to Ricer City after its decline twenty years ago. Each of the characters has a complex and layered relationship to gender, sexuality and magic. Let me first start off by saying I love the cover of this book and the premise of this book sounds so interesting. Now, onto the more difficult, the way the story is written and told is a bit confusing, the narrative use of “we” and “us” and constant changing of “he” and “she” left me trying to piece together what was going on and who was what as well as the whole archetype thing of -maiden, king, monster, etc going on. This story deals with abuse, both physically and mentally, and so many of the characters were abused but the abuse isn’t really properly addressed in about the first 50% of the book. The book started off great but the more I read on the more I lost interest and got confused about what was going on. Theres nothing really explained about these characters and the romance was meh at best. The characters ( except for Turing) felt flat and I truly don’t see how much of an emotional investment you can have for them and expect to have to go forth into a second book when they dont have any personality beyond the superficial elements. The multiple povs does not help the plot itself, it just complicates it and the pacing was also a drag. I adored the author’s other book and this one had so much potential but miss the mark for me.This was on my list of most anticipated books and it just fell flat unfortunately. I feel horrible and bad about giving this book such a low review when I adored the author’s previous work but this was just my experience and well I do hope you give this book a chance and hopefully its a better experience for you.

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Firstly, thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for allowing me the chance to read an ARC of this book. Unfortunately, I DNF'd at 46% - please make sure you read other reviews and not just mine.
SPOILERS AHEAD

Let me start with what I liked: the cover. It was super gorgeous, depicting the character accurately to their descriptions. I also really enjoyed Jesse's character, specifically the way Szabo wrote the fluctuation of Jesse's gender. I though it was brilliant the way magic and feeling were connected to Jesse's change from male to female and back again.

I also appreciated that Szabo discusses the topic of abuse, both mentally and physically. Unfortunately, Szabo never elaborates on it, despite multiple characters being abused. We know Jesse was abused, we know Belle and the other girls were abused (and that Belle warns Jesse to be careful around Jack, as Jack strongly identifies with toxic masculine traits) but abuse never seems to be properly addressed in the first 46% of the book.

I wanted to like this book, and it started off promising, but I quickly lost interest as nothing about the plot gets explained in the first half. What happened to Nathan and Astrid? What was their goal in removing magic (and now their goal in restoring it)? Absolutely nothing is explained about these characters, or the importance that David, Jesse, Jack and Turing have; although we understand that David is the Hero, Jesse is the Maiden, and Turing is either the Monster/Creature that Astrid left behind to save David. Not to mention, the conversations between characters, especially Turing and Jack, felt forced, awkward and unnatural.

One of my biggest complaints is that "Turing" never truly gets a name - at least in the parts I read, she is constantly referred to as either "daughter of the lake" or the "creature." Something along those lines, rather than referring to her as "Turing." Name are important, and while I understand that part of her character background was her abandonment, I at least figured she would pick a name for herself as she is seen reading multiple different stories throughout the book.

This book was not for me, but others may enjoy it.

~1.5 stars~

We All Fall Down follows four young people in their attempts to restore magic to River City after its decline twenty years ago. There is something reminiscent of Through the Looking Glass in the plot, as everyone functions as pawns in a larger game. Each character has a complex relationship to gender, sexuality, and magic and the book is certainly intended to be a celebration of queer identities.

Now for the things that did not work (in my opinion): As many people have said, this is not a young adult book. The characters feel much older than their on-page ages, particularly Jack and David. I was convinced Jack was like…thirty-five years old for the first half of the book based on the role she plays as a mentor and caretaker. It confused me to no end when both Jesse and Turing had crushes on Jack. For me, any and all romance felt unbelievable because of the wide maturity gap between Jack and either Turing or Jesse. David is introduced as a professor, so I assumed he was, you know, older than twenty, which is apparently how old he is. It was made clear later that he had graduated early, but it made for a bit of readjustment in how I thought of the characters. Jesse and Turing feel more realistically like young adults.

I also felt as though the world-building was not as fleshed out as it could have been. I actually liked the concept of each character functioning as an archetype – maiden, king, monster, etc – but as readers we weren’t really given the information to understand WHY this was the case. In the context of the book, I found that the characters’ agency were almost entirely stripped away because of this “pawn” element.

A few other qualms: There is the use of “we” and “us” in the narrative at a few points and it left me confused because…why? Were we as readers supposed to feel as though we were the gods controlling the characters? This is the only thing I can think of to explain it, but it just felt strange. Also, there is a LOT of violence enacted on the main character of color – David – that was overall uncomfortable to read. Jack really comes across as unforgivable because of some of her actions, particularly because of how they affect David.

I would conclude that for me, We All Fall Down simply fell flat.

~Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free eARC of this book!~

This tackled some tough issues and it was an interesting read. I just didn't really care for it by the end.

3.75 STARS
This is an urban fantasy novel that features multiple POV from 4 LGBT+ characters. There was a constant underlying “I can’t wait for what will happen next feeling” I had while reading, but I’m not sure that feeling was ever satisfied. Meaning, I continued to anticipate that it would be fantastic but it mostly remained okay-good. However, it picks up speed in the end and I feel like this first book laid the ground work for a stellar second book in the Duology.

I feel like the author did a good job of educating its readers on what acceptance can truly mean. There was a lot I liked about the book and I do feel like it is a great read for YA readers. I think that fans of The Cemetery Boys and Nevermoor would like this novel.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I adore Rose Szabo's first novel, "What Big Teeth," and though I don't usually read this type of quasi-urban fantasy, I was sufficiently intrigued because I love their style. This book started out great, with an intricate, adamantly NOT hand-holdy prologue that boded great for the rest of the book. Unlike other readers, I didn't find the narrative or world-building too convoluted, though neither is straightforward or easy to understand. However, the character development wasn't as strong, to me, and I particularly didn't love how one of the POV characters behaved (with few direct consequences) toward the end. I know this is a duolgoy, and I know she's chastened by another character in the novel itself, so there may be further consequences down the line, but it didn't seem like the best move to include in a novel in 2022. (Basically, it seems needlessly triggering for plenty of readers, and I'm not sure what's 'gained' with the inclusion of the scene. If it's to make a point about the potential violence and toxicity of white women--awesome. But that point didn't come through as clearly as it could have--hence the many reviews calling attention to it. Perhaps this could be amended before the final release?)

I actually ended up really loving this book! All of the characters were so interesting and I loved seeing all of them coming together slowly and I can't wait to see it unfold even more in the second book. The writing was good and it flowed nicely. The only thing I would have liked was having the character's name at the beginning of the chapter that was following each of them, though it was made clear quickly it's just a personal preference.

I can honestly say that "We All Fall Down" was one the releases currently on my arc list that I was the most excited for. The blurb sounds absolutely amazing and while I haven't read Szabo's previous work, I heard only great things about "What Big Teeth", which is on my tbr, too. I'm not sure it'll stay on that list though, because this new novel turns out to be one of my biggest disappointment this year, so far. I just. I don't know what happened.

Good things first, though: The world Szabo creates is an intriguing one. I very rarely like urban fantasy type stories, but the world in this one is fascinating and has so much potential. I loved whenever the "monsters" were described, I loved the ideas on magic and just the general diversity of the lore and the characters. In the beginning I was also really excited about the way gender is explored.

Sadly, that is about all the good I take away from my reading experience. Maybe this is an issue of an author's writing style just not fitting the reader, because I had a really hard time actually just understanding what was going on and how this world works. The writing, the world building, the plot - everything is incredibly convoluted, making it hard to just delve in and enjoy the ride. I sometimes feel like a lot of the book is still entirely unedited, because there are, for example, sooooo many way too long dialogue scenes that lead to absolutely nothing, do absolutely nothing for the story or the characters, and are simply there to TELL us instead of SHOWING us parts of the world, story, character development. I skimmed entire pages and didn't feel like I missed anything at all.

The characters are, in theory, really interesting and there is definitely potential, but they are also surprisingly flat and underdeveloped. I didn't feel anything for either of them and I don't care what happens to them. Certain developments - David and Jesse's relationship and later twists, for example - really really need the reader's emotional investment to work for the story (and the sequel) but because neither of these characters have any actual personality that goes beyond superficial elements I simply didn't care. There was no depth and some of the choices made didn't make sense to me, at all. Turing is definitely my favorite of them all and the only one I actually rooted for and cared about. She baby.
The romances are not so much focused on, which I actually like, but what is there is just kind of... there. I don't like either of the two teased romances, but that is mostly because I don't like any of the characters that much (not talking about you, Turing, we love you in this house).
The way Szabo explores gender also made me a little... uncomfortable at times? Take this with a major grain of salt though because I'm a cis woman, but I'd be interested to hear how trans and nonbinary people view the way Jesse and Turing are written. I felt like there was a lot of emphasis on body = gender with Jesse and they were written as incredibly naive and almost child-like at times. Turing constantly being misgendered even though, based on the cover art and the character descriptions and monster lore given, I don't actually see any reason for a certain character assigning fixed pronouns to her (and I say her because that is how Turing refers to herself) felt like an odd choice. But again, this is just a personal feeling and the author's nonbinary themselves so obviously knows better.

The plot itself is all over the place and honestly suffers from the multiple povs, and that's coming from someone who loves reading multiple povs. There are pacing issues that lead to a lot of the story just draaaaaagging on and on until finally, it picks up speed closer to the ending. It's just boring and confusing, which is a shame because the potential to be amazing is THERE and the ideas are great. It's just the execution that is sorely lacking at this point.
I still think this will have its fans. It's diverse, it has cool ideas. I would absolutely not categorize this as young adult, though, which it is marketed as - this is definitely more new adult.

I feel really bad about giving this such a low rating, but I simply didn't enjoy my reading experience at all. 1,5 stars, but for me personally, and very subjectively, this is unfortunately leaning more towards a 1. I'm sure I will be in the minority though.

I just did not love this book. As much as I really wanted to love the multi-perspective queer fantasy protagonists thang that comes all together to fight a greater evil, the genre just wasn't for me, the world building was extremely confusing (fantasy? urban? where did the people with these powers come from, exactly?) and because I was working so hard to figure out what was going on with that, I feel like I missed the storyline completely.

That being said, the queer rep is amazing. I love how not all the characters are human (I mean, I guess that's to be expected in any type of fantasy - not just powers, but actually just different creatures), there are a lot of diversity of ethnicities represented, but that wasn't enough to float the story for me.

I think that many others will probably love this—especially if they're a fan of books like A Court of Thorn and Roses, the Cruel Prince series, etc. This type of massive arc storytelling just isn't particularly to my liking. I can get into it if I understand the world and immediately click with the characters, but neither of those things happened for me with this book.

I really wanted to love this book. And there were aspects of it (the way it portrayed queerness and identity, the magical tropes, some of the characters) that I did love. But overall, I found it a little confusing. While the broadness and boldness of this fantastical universe and all it's past, present, and future had so much potential - it fell short. There was not enough proper world building for this high fantasy and at times as a reader I felt that I could never really understand what was going on. While this book has amazing elements it was, in my opinion, jumbled.

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order this year and will recommend it to students.

I enjoyed this book and these characters. The biggest sadness was that I can't go right to book 2! Book 1 is mostly setup for what I feel will be a more satisfying book, but I really liked seeing the pieces come together.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

We All Fall Down by Rose Szabo is an urban fantasy title about a city that underwent a revolution to help the magic in the city, but it failed - turning magic into a scarce commodity and causing the general population to fear it and anything that they don't understand. Especially monsters.

In this city there has always been a King that keeps uses magic to shape and better the city and a Maiden that was the one who enabled the magic to flow like a river underneath the city. With the downfall of the King during the revolution and the death of the Maiden, magic and order stopped being readily available. The story starts off with a small introduction to this setting as an opening and then goes into the main story. This follows four main characters whose lives are intertwined and who each share a destiny to either save or ruin the city.

The different roles in the story feel like the ones in a fairytale and though this one has a refreshing modern twist to it. The characters all have a completely different way of achieving their goals than what usually happens in stories of Kings and Maidens, Heroes and Villains.

I cannot wait to see where this goes and to share this with other readers!