Publisher: Razorbill
Published: January 23, 2018
Genre: YA Fantasy/LGBT
Source: Print ARC
Rating: 4.5 Stars
GOODREADS
BOOK DESCRIPTION
"This edgy fantasy doesn't just blur boundaries of genre, of gender, of past and present, life and death--it explodes them." --Cinda Williams Chima, New York Timesbestselling author of The Seven Realms and The Shattered Realms
Without the dead, she'd be no one.
Odessa is one of Karthia's master necromancers, catering to the kingdom's ruling Dead. Whenever a noble dies, it's Odessa's job to raise them by retrieving their soul from a dreamy and dangerous shadow world called the Deadlands. But there is a cost to being raised: the Dead must remain shrouded. If even a hint of flesh is exposed, a grotesque transformation begins, turning the Dead into terrifying, bloodthirsty Shades.
A dramatic uptick in Shade attacks raises suspicions and fears around the kingdom. Soon, a crushing loss of one of her closest companions leaves Odessa shattered, and reveals a disturbing conspiracy in Karthia: Someone is intentionally creating Shades by tearing shrouds from the Dead--and training them to attack. Odessa is forced to contemplate a terrifying question: What if her magic is the weapon that brings the kingdom to its knees?
Fighting alongside her fellow mages--and a powerful girl as enthralling as she is infuriating--Odessa must untangle the gruesome plot to destroy Karthia before the Shades take everything she loves.
Review:
Reign of the Fallen is book I've been dying to read ever since I first heard about it. The premise of the story is hard to walk away from—necromancers, a beautiful LGBT romance, and a story that’s only fault is that it makes you breathless. If I had to use only one word to describe RotF, it would be unique. It was completely and utterly compelling in its prose and beautiful messages. Odessa is strong, reckless, and flawed—which makes her all the more real. Her actions were realistic and at times I caught myself thinking that I would have made the same exact decisions.
What I liked most about the book was the positive message of gender and sexual equality. Let’s face it, the world changing for the better is astounding. Women in the world are standing up for themselves and fighting back. Luckily in this world, the women are already badass and don’t have to prove a damn thing. How nice that would be? Plus the necromancer aspect was just fascinating as the world building. Very creative and fun!
This is a very fast-paced read, so don’t be surprised when you pick up the book to read a chapter and then end up finishing the story entirely. It’s that good! I can’t stress enough how amazingly feministic RotF is. It made me so proud to be a woman of the twenty first century. That being said, I’m completely sad that the story has ended. It’s going to be a tough wait for the next one, but it can be done. I think readers will enjoy this wonderful tale full of romance, action, and death.
*Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for an honest and unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
BUY:
Sarah Glenn Marsh has been an avid fantasy reader from the day her dad handed her a copy of The Hobbit and promised it would change her life; she's been making up words and worlds ever since. When she's not writing, Sarah enjoys painting, ghost hunting, traveling, and all things nerdy.
She lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and their menagerie: four rescued greyhounds, a bird, and many fish. She is the author of Fear the Drowning Deepand Reign of the Fallen.
SCHEDULE:
WEEK ONE
January 8 – A New Look on Books – Interview
January 9 – YA Books Central – A List of “Top 5" of her choice (Potential Topic Ideas: movies she loves, things a reader would need, what a reader would need to survive in her book's world)
January 10 – The Fandom – “Meet the Characters" Breakdown with pictures
January 11 – Twinning for Books – Q&A
January 12 – Becca’s Book Realm – Q&A
WEEK TWO
January 15 – Reader Rewind – Mini Review and Q&A on Instagram Page
January 16 – The Quirky Book Nerd – Review
January 17 – Once Upon a Twilight – Review + Q&A
January 18 – BookCrushin – Review
January 19 – BigScreenBooks – Review and included in your “Most Anticipated January Release” video.
WEEK THREE
January 22 – The Novel Knight – Review
January 23 – Across the Word – Q&A
January 24 – The Lovely Books – Review
January 25 – Adventures in YA Publishing – Interview (already done)
January 26 – The Royal Polar Bear Reads – Author Interview Spot
WEEK FOUR
January 29 – Tales of the Ravenous Reader – Review
January 30 – Good Choice Reading – Excerpt (and Review)
January 31 – Queership – Author Guest Post: The Reimagining of zombies and necromancy and what reading something that reinvisioned death in this way would have meant to her as a teen?
February 1 – Megan Write Now – Interview
February 2 – The Life of a Booknerd Addict – Review and Banners with quotes
February 3 – Nocturnal Reads – Short Q&A
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