Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms, 1)

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The first book is very much like a prequel to the series, setting up the characters and story for the reader.

For me, morally gray protagonist is where the magic happens – it’s damn hard to relate to a squeaky clean saviour, just as it’s damn hard to sympathise with a moustache twirling villain. Jana wants the witches to raise the baby, but Sabina murders Jana and takes the little girl to be raised by another. I wasn’t quite sure about some of the character arcs within this first book – I’m sure these characters will come to be developed more subtly throughout the course of the subsequent novels but some of the arcs within this opening story felt a little heavy-handed, particularly that of Magnus who I was torn between feeling sorry for and dismissing his sympathy-inducing storyline as simply too try-hard (akin, in different ways, to Snape and Loki) – ultimately, however, it made Magnus seem entitled and then moody when he didn’t get what he wanted, neither of which particularly endeared me to him. Cleo somehow escaped the palace but waits outside in secret with the masses to hear King Gaius address his new people.Speaking of, the reformed but not forgiven Amara is rescued by Nerissa, and they also head off to travel and find redemption. He once told her he thought she should be addressed as a goddess, so whenever one of them is pretending to ally with an enemy, they make sure to drop Cleiona in the conversation to let the other in on the act. Subverted by the end of Immortal Reign however, when the author decides to spare all of the remaining main characters, despite them going through hell to prevent the end of the entire world. Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Overlapping with Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex, Magnus and Cleo make love against a cliff on a beach when they reunite in Immortal Reign.

Although the writing style was too plain for my tastes and lacked any sense of nuance (the author straight out tells you, rather than shows you), I thought the character interactions and the setup of the fantasy world hinted at the potential for a lot of growth and development that I hope to see realised in the sequel, Rebel Spring. Sorceress: Lucia, adopted at birth into a royal family, discovers the truth about her past – and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.Enemy Mine: Paelsia hates Limeros for their indifference, while Limeros views them as pathetic savages, yet they team up to take out Auranos. She was the most powerful of all the Watchers (sorcerers who live in an alternative realm known as the Sanctuary).

Though these three kingdoms are at peace there is a lingering tension between them, not a war at the start of the book but rather a heated relationship between inhabitants of the different kingdoms when they are confronted with each other. I’m excited to see how much she changes in the second book because everything and everyone she loves has been cruelly taken from her.In Jonas’s case he is thrown into a completely different world as well, by events that transpire in the market place, he is now out for revenge for his brother. The sisters ended up turning on each other as well but the hunter was there to pick up the pieces of the Kindred and hide them so not to corrupt anyone else. When she and Magnus become co-rulers of Mystica at the end, Cleo's decked out in a violet that is the perfect combination of Limeros red and Auranos blue, signifying the true union of their nations.

Sister rivalry isn’t nearly as glorious when the sisters fighting are immortals who screw up the world as a result. Chekhov's Skill: Cleo’s penchant for scaling ivy trellis to sneak out of the castle comes into play when she’s imprisoned by Amara, and there just so happens to be a window with some ivy nearby.

The childbirth itself is also strange, with no blood, a single flash of pain, and Lyssa simply popping out neat as can be. I found this super helpful because there are a lot of characters and it was good to be able to flick back to the start to remind myself who everyone was.