“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 Times bestselling author of The Seven Realms and The Shattered RealmsWithout 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 … 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.
Perfect for fans of Three Dark Crowns and Red Queen, Reign of the Fallen is a gutsy, unpredictable read with a surprising and breathtaking LGBT romance at its core.
more
This is a really creative and unique “YA Fantasy” novel that stands out from a lot of others in the genre, not only because of it’s inventive characters and universe (necromancers, the “living” dead, etc.), but also because it doesn’t shy away from both the emotions and conflicts that exist in the “tough” subjects – loss, death, love, responsibility. Plus the fact that many of the romances in the story are LGBTQ. And underneath all of that, it’s just a really good page-turner of an adventure story!
This book was just absolutely amazing! Why? This book is full of queer necromancers and magic wielders and scary monsters. Reign of the Fallen is one of those not-so-light YA fantasy’s out there. I really loved this, but before I move on to the rest of my review, I want you to know the author shared some content warnings on Goodreads!
I really enjoyed the plot of Reign of the Fallen as it was just something not directly similar to any other YA fantasy I have read yet (and we know some tropes and plot lines can easily get repetitive in YA SFF). It holds death (in multiple forms), love, suspense and much more. Odessa, our MC, is part of the group of royal necromancers in the book’s setting Karthia. Raised dead have to hide themselves under shrouds, as they turn into gruel monsters, called Shades, when the living see their bodies. The story is about how someone is deliberately turning the dead into Shades to attack and kill the mass and the necromancers have to find out who and why, while the MC starts to doubt herself and her own powers and has to deal with loss throughout the story. It sounds way duller when I phrase it, but it’s such a good story. Definitely check out the synopsis on Goodreads if you want a better understanding.
One of the best parts of this book is how each of the main characters develops realisticly and deals with the whole situation of danger and death in a human way. Each character has room to grow and that happens, especially for our MC Odessa. The way the author wrote this book created room for emotions, but also friendship and love throughout the plot and that’s definitely a big plus point. Nothing is forced and no one gets over a dead person or another kind of big loss within a few days and just moves on, like in so many YA fantasy books. I am so glad Sarah Glenn Marsh took the time to actually show people breaking down after something big, exactly how it should be!
I love how this book is diverse in sexual identities. The MC odessa is bisexual and I have longed for a bisexual character actually dating both men and women, not just the hot girl to verify her queerness or the hot guy so she’s bi in name. Yes, I know those two things aren’t always the case, but they have been with books I have read or had on my radar and decided not to read.
I would definitely read more by this author. I have read the sequel of this book, Song of the Dead, and even though I liked it significantly less than this book, I just really enjoy Sarah’s way of writing and building a story. I will definitely be checking out Fear the Drowning Deep and any of her future work.
Long story short, this is one great book that I highly recommend. It has diverse queer rep, magic wielders, found family and one amazing cast of characters. Oh, and Odessa is my bisexual queen and no one can convince me otherwise!
Loved this book. Buy it!!!!,