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| TITLE: Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms #1) AUTHOR: Morgan Rhodes PUBLISHER: Razorbill PUB DATE: Dec 11 2012 |
Summary from Goodreads:
"In a land where magic has been forgotten but peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest is simmering. Three kingdoms grapple for power—brutally transforming their subjects’ lives in the process. Amidst betrayals, bargains, and battles, four young people find their fates forever intertwined:
Cleo: A princess raised in luxury must embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of a magic long thought extinct.
Jonas: Enraged at injustice, a rebel lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country impoverished—and finds himself the leader of a people’s revolution centuries in the making.
Lucia: A girl adopted at birth into a royal family discovers the truth about her past—and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.
Magnus: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, a firstborn son begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword...
The only outcome that’s certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?"
Cleo: A princess raised in luxury must embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of a magic long thought extinct.
Jonas: Enraged at injustice, a rebel lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country impoverished—and finds himself the leader of a people’s revolution centuries in the making.
Lucia: A girl adopted at birth into a royal family discovers the truth about her past—and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.
Magnus: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, a firstborn son begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword...
The only outcome that’s certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?"
Rating:
I have two major weaknesses that I never got to overcome – my stupid sense of direction, and my inability to remember names. Falling Kingdoms has tested me on both.
I have never really been good with remembering names ever, so imagine my struggle to keep up with all the characters. Thank goodness there was a list of them up front. But it was kind of embarrassing to see myself going back and forth whenever I needed to recall who this character was in the first place. As for my sense of direction, well there was a map up front as well but wow, was it hard to picture which was where... I’m telling you, it was embarrassing - complete and utter shame!
Falling Kingdoms was a rather challenging book to read for me because [aside from the above mentioned], the multiple points-of-view were a lot to take in. It was harder to get to know the characters since, well; there was a lot to go around. Some of them were a bit bewildering, and yet some were quite predictable. It was hard for me to find a character that I’d root for. And the one time I actually find a pleasant character... he dies! Crap!
I was a little impatient about waiting for the action scenes – how long before all hell breaks loose?! And yet, when it finally did, it wasn’t as much as I expected and yearned for.
What I enjoyed most about this book were the background stories, the myths and legends that were spurred here and there. These bits and pieces of their history was what kept me reading even though I came to the point that it felt like this wasn’t going anywhere anymore.
Falling Kingdoms had a promising story. It was nice and interesting, but it just took too long for anything to unravel, some were still even left unanswered until the end, obviously to be continued in book two, Rebel Spring.
