The cyclical nature of empires and civilizations are brought to life in this book for young readers, filled with trivia and insights into ancient peoples and the mark that they left on the world. I love Peter Allen's selection of empires to discuss, particularly the lesser-known ones. Some of these locations have often been neglected in world history textbooks, reduced to a few paragraphs/pages or mentioned in passing (if at all). The addition of a comprehensive and approachable text helps to fill in those gaps and inspire young readers to learn more. It would be interesting to see children make connections between current geographic boundaries and these ancient empires, seeing how times have changed and what elements of culture are still present.

Allen follows a pattern of introduction to the ancient civilizations, describing their location and the features and practices that made them distinct, then provides honest depictions of the factors contributing to their fall, even when the details are a bit grisly. The total number of profiles here are nine, which allows him to devote ample, equal time to talking about each. This also leaves room for a (fingers crossed) potential second volume to talk about further underrated ancient civilizations. The book includes a discussion of how archaeologists and historians came to learn about these peoples, and how the available information has grown with more new discoveries over the years. The book also acknowledges that there is some information that we will always have questions about due to the lack of artifacts, but that people continue to search and keep learning.


The book's layout is very similar to the "Through Time" series from DK, with the full multipage overlays of activity and daily life throughout the respective civilizations. The illustrations are detailed (with a lot of humorous background activity) and historically accurate; they're slightly reminiscent of M. Sasek with their busy nature. I can tell that the author did a great deal of research to get all of the minutiae done, keeping his distinctive style throughout. Children will enjoy multiple reads to go back and search for details that they may not have noticed previously. The text is clear, but the one drawback is that it is very small and sometimes hard to read, especially when placed in smaller clusters next to different figures. I know that part of this is purely a technical issue due to space, but future editions may benefit from a large print copy. The glossary of important terms at the back is useful, and I would have also liked to see a bibliography of resources. The information in the book is so fun and it would be nice to see where the author sourced the information from.

On a serendipitous note, I saw a copy of this book in the children's nonfiction section of my local library while I was making the notes for this review, newly processed and placed on the shelf. This is the exact type of thing that third-grade me would rush to read and check out. I hope that other similarly-minded history buff kids will get the same level of enjoyment out of it, too.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Cicada Books, for this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

This book is a total gem for any history fans. I’m already a fan of Peter Allen's work from 'Atlas of Amazing Architecture', and he's really good at making history fun. His illustrations are always packed with so much detail and creativity, and I felt that this book was no exception.

The pages are absolutely mesmerizing! The vibrant artwork on each page really bring the ancient empires to life. It's hard not to get drawn into the stories when they’re presented so beautifully.

As someone who usually prefers history that focuses on individual stories, I was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable this book was. The author makes the topic of empires engaging, even for someone who isn't typically excited about that kind of history. He covers well-known empires like the Vikings and Aztecs while also introducing some lesser-known ones like Kingdom of Ayutthaya which was once known as the "Venice of the East."

I think that this book is a great way to spark interest in history. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to dive into the past with a fun and colorful guide or wanting to add a fun history book to their library.

"Rise and Fall" is about empires that shaped the world from the Minoan civilization to Kingdom of Ayatthva. The book spans from 2200 BC to 1767 AD. Multipage spreads about the civilization explain their history, society, art, religion, and decline. Full of illustrations with lots of details. For grades 6th - 8th

Rise and Fall is my favorite kind of nonfiction book, not overstuffed with narrative, and full of bright colors. The cartoon illustrations are a standout, both silly and fun, but also clearly demonstrating ideas from the text. Each empire is given a few pages from rise to fall, including basic information and simple explanations for their ultimate demise. Of course a history book on this educational level will need to simplify a number of things, but the information is all correct, and I think kids will enjoy the quick stories, and sometimes bloody events.

This book is a great nonfiction informative text for curious elementary school readers. It offers a lot visually to explore. The empires covered include places from around the world, ordered chronologically from when they began and chosen for their influence on the society. Empires in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America are included. Details about how they came to be, their rulers, their art, architecture, religion, and society are included. There were a few I was not previously familiar with, so it was nice to learn something new. There are some depictions and descriptions of brutality, including human sacrifice, war, colonization, and slavery. The images are not overly graphic and they are mentioned as delicately as possible considering the reality they depict.

I think inquisitive young readers will enjoy learning these facts and exploring the photos. The page layout doesn't lend itself to an easy read aloud and it was at times hard to read to myself. Some of the images felt repetitive despite the differences in the cultures represented.

The illustrations were so detailed, you could just stare at the page and find all the little things happening. I liked that the author used the same criteria for each civilization. Very interesting!

Overview of Empires that shaped the world

This really fulfills its promise to cover the rise to the fall of each covered group. I appreciate that it centered around empires that shaped the world. It really drives home the domino effect that can be made to benefit or be a downfall for many beyond themselves. It also includes a great glossary for a convenient reference point

It opened my eyes up to civilizations I haven’t even heard of. Plenty of awareness to be had all around.

The illustrations were colorful, set the scene of each specific civilization without being overly graphic for the time period. It is such a visually appealing book.

This book would be a wonderful gift for the little history lover in your life or a history centered career person with a child/children. I could also see this incorporated into different Social Studies units in classrooms.

I received a copy of this book from Peter Allen. I am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions are my own.

Such a wonderful introduction to 9 different kingdoms from around the world! I hadn't even heard of some of these, but I really enjoyed learning about them. There wasn't space for a lot of detail in such a short book, but there was information about history, religion, architecture, and other interesting aspects of their lives.
My favorite thing was the pictures. They were on a 2-page spread and there were separate action sets all the way around. What makes the pictures so great is that they're full of action, and I imagined every set telling a story.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

Informative, bright, and engaging! Rise and Fall is a fascinating look at the many empires who have come to and fallen from power over the many centuries. The blend of historical information and fun accompanying art really sets the scene for a child's imagination; I can absolutely imagine a kid poring over this for hours.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5

I am reviewing a digital ARC a received via Netgalley. (I am reviewing many a picture book on Netgalley to get my feedback percentage up because someone on reddit said that the people who reviewing requests actually care about that! 🤷‍♂️)

This is, on the whole, a very nicely designed and illustrated middle grade nonfiction title which presents an overview of a variety of ancient cultures, their unique ways of life and features, and how each declined over time.

Overall it has the feel of a DK Eyewitness book, with short chunks of texts on different subtopics scattered around each spread. However, I personally felt like the illustrations were so detailed that they could have used more text chunks, or even just very brief labels on different objects and features in the illustration. Without more of these, it kind of feels like there are a few scarrtered around the pages but not enough reason to really pore over and appreciate the illustrations.

I did enjoy the mix of cultures represented, a mix of well-known (from a "I learned about this briefly in a history class in the US" perspective) to more geographically broad and diverse.

Overall if one was seeking out a middle-grade appropriate book which features a better variety of ancient cultures than most, I would not want my gripes to deter them from this one.