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A review by pages_oflau
Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh
5.0
Thank you so much to Penguin Random House for sending me a free copy of this book for review.
When I first started bookstagram I saw this book literally EVERYWHERE and knew I was going to have to read it, but for some reason it always slipped my mind when I did one of my many book hauls. I'm so thankful to Penguin Random House for sending me a copy for review because this book was exactly what I needed.
Thank you so much to Sarah for writing this book, it hit home with quite a few issues and topics raised that you generally don't get to see in most fantasy books and I think Sarah did an amazing job portraying these topics through her characters.
"As long as the Dead are around, I'm their Sparrow, and I won't give that up for anything"
The book opens up and we meet Odessa AKA Sparrow who is a Master Necromancer, trained to raise the dead and give them a second chance at life, even though they remain as one of the Dead and not the living, they still live in the same way the living do and share the same city. The only rule for the Dead is, they constantly have to remain covered in a shroud, if anyone so much as catches a glimpse of the Dead's flesh then the Dead turn into horribly terrifying monsters called Shades.
Joining Odessa we have 7 friends: - Evander - Odessa's lover and fellow Necromancer, Evander is the one who goes into the Deadlands with Odessa because you're not allowed to go there on your own, always in pairs. - Meredy - Evander's sister and Beast Master. She has a bear companion called Lysander, who is super cute, Even though due to unfortunate circumstances, we don't meet Meredy until later on in the book & she is probably my favourite character. - Valoria - Princess of Karthia. - Kasmira - Pirate, Weather Mage and Odessa's friend. - Jax - Odessa's best friend. - Simeon - Jax's Necromancer partner for going into the Deadlands. Odessa considers him pretty much as a brother. Is dating Danial. - Danial - Healer and openly dating Simeon.
These are some of the most diverse, wonderfully written characters I have ever read about in a fantasy book, they are by no means perfect, all fighting their own battles but they come across amazingly portrayed and I couldn't help but love them all.
In the world of Karthia people are able to train to become different types of Mages depending on their eye colour: - Blue eyes - Necromancer - Green eyes - Beast Master - Brown eyes - Inventor - Hazel eyes - Healer - Grey eyes - Weather Mage
This magic system is unlike anything I've ever read before and whilst it was slightly complex at the start, once you get into the book a bit more it's actually really interesting and I lived for it.
"I'm not one of your inventions. I'm broken, part of me is missing, and you can't fix me with copper wires or a piece of string"
The writing was rich with descriptions, I was able to perfectly imagine everything I read and as I said above, Sarah touches on some pretty important topics in this book which I think she wrote very well. Due to a heartbreaking, unfortunate turn of events Odessa feels grief pretty early on in this book and my heart completely went out to her. The way it was written was believable and made me feel it too. Some of Odessa's actions I don't 100% agree with but given her state of mind, I'm able to forgive them.
Another amazing thing about this book is how Odessa is openly Bisexual, not enough books these days dare to be this diverse and I was super loving how conflicted Odessa's thoughts were, and I am totally shipping Odessa and Meredy. End of.
Overall this was an amazing book with so many twists and turns that I didn't see coming and I'm so glad I can jump straight into my ARC of Song of the Dead, because I need more of this world and these characters in my life!
Trigger/content warnings: Substance abuse, violence throughout, death, grief, trauma, talk of suicide & sexual content but nothing explicit.
When I first started bookstagram I saw this book literally EVERYWHERE and knew I was going to have to read it, but for some reason it always slipped my mind when I did one of my many book hauls. I'm so thankful to Penguin Random House for sending me a copy for review because this book was exactly what I needed.
Thank you so much to Sarah for writing this book, it hit home with quite a few issues and topics raised that you generally don't get to see in most fantasy books and I think Sarah did an amazing job portraying these topics through her characters.
"As long as the Dead are around, I'm their Sparrow, and I won't give that up for anything"
The book opens up and we meet Odessa AKA Sparrow who is a Master Necromancer, trained to raise the dead and give them a second chance at life, even though they remain as one of the Dead and not the living, they still live in the same way the living do and share the same city. The only rule for the Dead is, they constantly have to remain covered in a shroud, if anyone so much as catches a glimpse of the Dead's flesh then the Dead turn into horribly terrifying monsters called Shades.
Joining Odessa we have 7 friends: - Evander - Odessa's lover and fellow Necromancer, Evander is the one who goes into the Deadlands with Odessa because you're not allowed to go there on your own, always in pairs. - Meredy - Evander's sister and Beast Master. She has a bear companion called Lysander, who is super cute, Even though due to unfortunate circumstances, we don't meet Meredy until later on in the book & she is probably my favourite character. - Valoria - Princess of Karthia. - Kasmira - Pirate, Weather Mage and Odessa's friend. - Jax - Odessa's best friend. - Simeon - Jax's Necromancer partner for going into the Deadlands. Odessa considers him pretty much as a brother. Is dating Danial. - Danial - Healer and openly dating Simeon.
These are some of the most diverse, wonderfully written characters I have ever read about in a fantasy book, they are by no means perfect, all fighting their own battles but they come across amazingly portrayed and I couldn't help but love them all.
In the world of Karthia people are able to train to become different types of Mages depending on their eye colour: - Blue eyes - Necromancer - Green eyes - Beast Master - Brown eyes - Inventor - Hazel eyes - Healer - Grey eyes - Weather Mage
This magic system is unlike anything I've ever read before and whilst it was slightly complex at the start, once you get into the book a bit more it's actually really interesting and I lived for it.
"I'm not one of your inventions. I'm broken, part of me is missing, and you can't fix me with copper wires or a piece of string"
The writing was rich with descriptions, I was able to perfectly imagine everything I read and as I said above, Sarah touches on some pretty important topics in this book which I think she wrote very well. Due to a heartbreaking, unfortunate turn of events Odessa feels grief pretty early on in this book and my heart completely went out to her. The way it was written was believable and made me feel it too. Some of Odessa's actions I don't 100% agree with but given her state of mind, I'm able to forgive them.
Another amazing thing about this book is how Odessa is openly Bisexual, not enough books these days dare to be this diverse and I was super loving how conflicted Odessa's thoughts were, and I am totally shipping Odessa and Meredy. End of.
Overall this was an amazing book with so many twists and turns that I didn't see coming and I'm so glad I can jump straight into my ARC of Song of the Dead, because I need more of this world and these characters in my life!
Trigger/content warnings: Substance abuse, violence throughout, death, grief, trauma, talk of suicide & sexual content but nothing explicit.