This review is also on Living for the Books
I'll admit that I picked this book up solely because the cover looked so interesting. I don't normally read high fantasy so I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it. Right now I'm actually glad that I judge a book by its cover because I really enjoyed this book.
Falling Kingdoms was told from many different points of view. At first this was a little overwhelming since there were so many characters to keep track of but there was a list of characters in the beginning of the book that helped me remember who they were. After a little while I didn't even need that list to keep track of the characters.
I was never bored while reading once the story picked up. It was very fast paced and time would pass but it didn't feel like more than a day had passed. Four different characters from different backgrounds told the story and in the beginning I was wondering how each of their stories would connect since they didn't all know each other.
I really liked how the death of one person led to all the events that happened in the story. The one part I didn't really understand was why Jonas blamed Cleo for the death when it was Aron who killed the person. Shouldn't he blame Aron? I'm also wondering about what happened between Jonas and Cleo. I feel that there was something between them but I didn't think that was possible since Jonas fantasied about killing her. I have this feeling that in the next book they will fall in love and I'm not sure how I feel about that.
I feel like the romance in this book and Cleo were my main problems. Cleo was just so hard to sympathize with for most the book. She was basically a spoiled girl that didn't think about what her actions could cause. By the end I sort of liked her because I could see that she grew as a character. I really didn't like the insta love between her and another character and I saw if coming from the moment they met.
Lucia and Magnus are like Jace and Clary from The Mortal Instruments except they were raised as siblings. So how Magnus felt about her was a little strange. I actually really liked Magnus. He has a reason for being the way he is even if I don't like how he acts. I have so many mixed feelings about Lucia. I really wish that they hadn't been raised as siblings.
Jonas was my favorite character. His reasons for hating the royals were believable and when someone close to him died he didn't sit around and do nothing. He wanted to make Paelsia better for his people. I wish there had been more chapters from his POV and I think that in the next book there will be.
Even though I had didn't really like Cleo or the romance in this book I actually really enjoyed it. I can't wait until the next one!
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