The second book in the Falconer trilogy is packed with surprises and suspense. Aileana Cameron, the Falconer, disappeared through the portal that she was trying to close forever. Now she wakes up in the fae world, trapped and tortured by the evil Lonnrach. With the help of an unexpected ally, Aileana re-enters the human world, only to find everything irrevocably changed. Edinburgh has been … destroyed, and the few human survivors are living in an uneasy truce with the fae, while both worlds are in danger of disappearing altogether. Aileana holds the key to saving both worlds, but in order to do so she must awaken her latent Falconer powers. And the price of doing that might be her life. Rich with imaginative detail, action, fae lore, and romance, The Vanishing Throne is a thrilling sequel to The Falconer.
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An excellent and engaging second book – the stakes are high, the plot twists are many, and I am just such a fan of the narrative voice in this series. After that cliff hanger ending, I am going to have to immediately pick up book 3!
This was such a good sequel and really took the series in a new direction. This one leaned much heavier on the fantasy aspects and I loved that. Kam is such a great character and I definitely have a soft spot for Kiaran. The ending to this one is another killer and I’m both nervous and excited for that final book.
rating 4.75 stars
WOW was this SUCH a drastic change from the first book. Who knew authors could literally swap genres mid series?? I love it! It wasn’t a completely perfect book, but it most definitely has made it to my favorites shelf; which is such a change from the first book that made it to “it’s a no from me” shelf.
This review will contain spoilers because it is impossible for me to thoroughly talk about the aspects of this book without revealing major details. Read this review and discuss with me once you’ve read the book! 🙂
[ The first book, the Falconer, does not even BEGIN to compare to this sequel (Make sure to check out my discussion and review of The Falconer ). It’s almost as if May had realized everything that was not good about the Falconer and did a total turn around to wow the readers. This book demonstrates the talent of the author; she was able to step back and see what didn’t work for the first book, and deliver a kick ass second look.
Things that didn’t work for me in the first book:
1. The setting and time period was bland and even confusing at times.
2. Aileana was the ONLY redeeming character.
3. It was incredibly predictable.
4. Not enough information, made it seem like the author didn’t know what her story was.
The author seemed to realize that the setting–this old Scottish, mix between steampunk and historical fiction and Faery Fantasy–just wasn’t working whatsoever. So, she did something that I have NEVER seen before, she literally just…flopped genres. In The Vanishing Throne, out with the balls and marriage arrangements, in with the literal end-of-the-world apocalypse. The Faeries destroy everything, suddenly the remaining humans are living in underground bunkers, fighting for survival and making treaties with the Faeries, and I loved it. It was unexpected, it was different, and it took a whole new idea to the table when it comes to Faeries.
The characters were also a HUGE turnaround!! In the first book, I was intrigued by Aileana, but all the other characters fell COMPLETELY flat for me. Kiaran seemed like your typical 13-year-old-girl bad-boy swoon, Gavin was boring, Christina was predictable, and Derrick was okay.
In this story it seems the characters came to their senses!! I VERY much enjoyed Kiaran and how we find out he was the Unseelie King, and he truly was evil. We drop this bad-boy trope and now we’re dealing with a man who truly did do atrocious things, made incredible sacrifices, a right amount of vulnerability and epicness. I mean, he was one EVIL motherfucker who killed thousands upon thousands of people in his past life. His goal was to murder his sister and take the throne, that shit is epically dark.
And then you get Aithienne, who was absolutely fantastic and an amazing female lead. Where we have Aileana’s cold vicious violence, we have Aithienne’s graceful, vulnerable strength, which balanced the two female leads perfectly. I loved all the twists and turns, how Aithienne created the Falconers to kill her brother, and then stood by her brother’s side when he asked to have his powers taken. I thought it was complex show of emotions, a delicate story line, and it took me by surprise. I had not been expecting such complex backstories going into this book. I feel Aithienne and Kiaran and Aileana made a perfect team, each balancing each other.
I especially LOVED the ending; I had not expected in the slightest bit to have Aileana be killed and take the Cailleach’s powers. I’m picking up the next book tomorrow because I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
All-in-all, I think May did an excellent job with this. I feel she really took the criticisms from the first book and was able to edit herself, which I very much respect. I hope the third book can round all the weird edges, I felt Kiaran’s and Aileanna’s love story to be a little forced, and the dialogue often times was awkward and trying to be sarcastically funny but just didn’t nail it on the head. Nonetheless, I’m excited to see what else May has to bring to the plate.