I really enjoyed this story. A very interesting look at death and change. I enjoyed the message that being stuck in the past can inhibit change and thus prevent dreams of the future.

Great characters. I think the realistic portrayal of grief is needed in today's society. I highly recommend!!!

I was incredibly impressed and pleasantly surprised by this novel. It can be difficult to find young adult fantasy novels that are noticeably distinct from many of the others out there. And for me, this was one of those fantasy novels that separated itself from all the rest. A truly unique and diverse narrative of strength and courage plays out against a glittering and exquisitely depicted backdrop of a kingdom falling into the hands of deception. Reign of the Fallen is one of those novels that captivates you from page one, and sweeps you into a darkly alluring world of magic and intrigue, where nothing is as it seems and friendship, family, and love are victorious.

In this novel, we follow Odessa, a young master necromancer who attends to the Dead that rule the kingdom of Karthia. With her rare abilities of sight and sense, she has served in a key role of her society, traveling into an enchanting and treacherous world called the Deadlands. Here, the spirts of those who have recently died roam until they pass on to their final resting place. Odessa and her partner carry out the ritual of returning spirits from the Deadlands back to their bodies, and their families.

However, those who are raised have a dangerous price to pay—they must remain entirely shrouded, hidden from the eyes of the living, or risk turning into a deadly creature called a Shade. Shade’s stalk the shadows of the Deadlands, feeding on both spirits—and any humans who enter this world—in order to gain size and power. Through a series of devastating losses, Odessa and the other necromancers in her community realize that something about their two worlds has shifted. Shrouded people are disappearing, Shades are materializing in Karthia, and these Shades seem to be trained to attack.

This is Sarah Glenn Marsh’s second published work, and she is already clearly displaying a remarkable amount of talent and creativity. She skillfully paints a picture of this mysterious and sinisterly magical world and the people that dwell within it. Her world building is top-notch and her character creation is solid. While not wholly unpredictable, the plot is exciting and original, and it travels at a fast pace that captures the reader’s attention. The tone of the narrative, the evolution of the characters, and the textual illustration of the setting seamlessly work together to give this story a realistic and almost tangible quality.

Both love and death have a crucial role in the way this novel’s plot unfolds. Death is a theme that shapes the society and lives of the Karthians, and is what kicks off the actions of our main characters. However, the strong love that resides in the connections between both lovers and friends is shown to contain the most power. Through pain, tragedy, and hopelessness, this is where the true strength can be found. No matter how hard death tries to reign supreme, love will always triumph. This is the message that resounds throughout the novel, and this is the true beauty that emanates from every page.

Marsh’s characters are, by far, my favorite part of this novel. She did a brilliant job of making each and every one of them memorable and three-dimensional—easy to imagine and to connect with. I became invested in these characters from the page that they entered the narrative on, and they have stuck with me long after finishing the novel. This is also where much of the diversity of this novel lies. No one is judged on appearance or gender; sexuality is not a point of contention. These topics are not dwelled on, they just are. Aside from some barriers due to position in the society of the kingdom, everyone is generally free to love and live in the way they wish.

I completely and utterly adore Odessa. In short, she is one of the most badass heroines I’ve ever come across in all my years of reading. She is a fighter in every sense of the word. One of my favorite parts of the way Marsh depicts Odessa is that she does not shy away from displaying Odessa’s flaws. This makes Odessa even more realistic and relatable; she is not at all a perfect heroine. She makes many mistakes and bad choices. She goes through extreme struggles and trials, fighting both outer and inner demons such as addiction as a source of mental pain relief—and yet, nothing manages to stop her. Odessa’s strength always pushes her to do the right thing, to save the people she cares about as well as herself.

The biggest surprise of this novel for me was how much I actually liked the romantic aspects of the plot. I’m not someone who often tends to enjoy stories that focus too heavily on romance, and romance is a massive part of this particular book. However, it has an incredibly pivotal role in the direction of the narrative, and therefore is very necessary for many of the events that play out.

Romance is by no means a trivial aspect of the plot or a distraction from the most important events. This is what brings our main characters together and gives them the courage and determination to fight back and protect the people of Karthia. Marsh creates very sweet and beautiful romances, as tangible as her characters themselves, and very fitting to the plot.

Overall, I found this novel to be refreshingly unique and compelling. There is so much creativity and detail put into the creation of both Karthia and the Deadlands, making it exceptionally easy to enter in your mind. The main characters are lovable, and Marsh crafts them in a way that makes the reader come to be deeply invested in their lives and their fates. Very well-written, carefully crafted and paced, this story has remained with me and grown on me more and more as I’ve thought about it. I have very high hopes for the future of this series, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes in further installments.

Teenage necromancer Odessa (AKA Sparrow) and her boyfriend/partner Ivander raise the dead.

The opening sentence is a real grabber, leading us slowly into a sometimes-confusing but strange world in which the raised Dead still have existence, others remain in the Deadlands, whence the Dead were brought back. Necromancers give up the possibility of coming back.

Then there are Shades, which are lot like ninja-attack zombies.

Less unusual was eye color tied to talents, but Marsh doesn't make too a big deal of it in this book. Later in the book there's even some promising hints about more talents, but before we get to it, there is a lot of tense action and death, including major characters, which causes Odessa to go into a tailspin of addiction in a believable way. I thought Marsh did a harrowingly terrific job of tracking the course of teenage love and grief.

But meanwhile trouble is brewing, and Odessa, involved in her tailspin, causes damage. When she comes out of it and begins putting clues together, the long-time reader is ahead of her in spotting the bad guys and the ending, but readers newer to fantasy will be racing along with Odessa to solve the growing threat of Shades in a land that has been ruled by a beloved king (who hates change) for a very long time.

There were parts where the worldbuilding verged on confusing, and Odessa veers between courageous and foolhardy (view spoiler), promising much room for growth in her further adventures.

I enjoyed the secondary characters, especially Meledy, about whom Odessa is both conflicted and attracted. At times I wished the book were about Meledy, in fact. I loved her talent and her personality, and I wanted badly to follow her adventures.

To sum up, high energy, unusual world, LGBT-friendly, diverse fantasy, opening lots of possibilities for a series.

First things first.... I have to admit I wanted to read this so bad because of the beautiful cover. But then I read the synopsis and found out what would be on the inside, I really wanted it. This book has been on my TBR for a while, so it's no surprise that I got to it as soon as I could.
In this world, the Dead never really die if they choose not to. They are covered with a shroud to be raised by the Necromancer before they can become a monster that no one likes, a Shade. But suddenly, to say no one likes them, there is an abundance of Shades attacking Karthia. Odessa must find out what's happening and save Karthia before it's too late.
I really loved Odessa. I loved her kick ass attitude and how she was able to meet everything head on. She made it through some of the toughest times and I thought it made her into a stronger heroine. I also really loved the supporting characters and all they brought to the story. It made it into a better story because of them. Especially Meredy and her "pet." I loved them and I am already thinking about what animal I would use if I had that power.
What I didn't care for about this book was the plot. My goodness the very first chapter of this book had me hooked. And then nothing happened until the climax at the end. The middle was literally her getting over something. (You'll understand when you read it.) I do think that part of the book was needed, however I don't feel it needed that much time spent on it. I also thought the plot was entirely too predictable. I literally called every plot twist with the exception of one. Maybe it's just me, I read alot, so I know where I would put these twists, but I was hoping for something that would throw me for a loop.
I also wasn't completely sold on the world-building. I wanted so much to know more about Karthia and the way they can see the Gates to the Deadlands and just... I needed more. I liked what she gave us, but there was no explanation of the different powers and just simple things like that. I wanted more.
As someone who's not really a fantasy reader, I'm glad I took a chance on this one. It had great characters, a great romance, and a great type of magic. Although I wanted more, I still feel it had a great story with a great heroine!

The story premise is fascinating and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel. Also I’d like to see more of Meredy and her bear, Lysander, to know more about their connection. Some chapters from their point of view would be fun.

3.5 stars

Plot: Reign of the Fallen took place in a world where individuals were blessed with powers based on their god. There were necromancers, beast masters, and those who didn't have any special powers. The necromancers were most sought out because they had the power to bring the world of the living - of course for a price.

Unsurprisingly, Reign of the Fallen was nonstop action which made it hard for me to put down. The pacing was just right and left just enough open to be explored in the next installment(s). While that's all good, I found the plot to be extremely predictable. I guessed the conspiracy and waited impatiently for Odessa to catch up with the rest of us. Once the conspiracy came to light, it was too easy for Odessa to piece the puzzle together, from a few choice interactions in the past.

Characters: I enjoyed Odessa because she was flawed and emotional. Her responses weren't always logical, but they made her human and I loved that she wasn't afraid to be vulnerable. I was; however, expecting more from the secondary characters. I was expecting a crew as tight as the Dregs, but unfortunately, I found all of the other characters to be non-existent. In all of their interactions, Marsh would make reference to how close their relationships were, but I never saw how close they were in present interactions, and that was the most disappointing.

There was a romance, and it was great how sexually open how all of the characters were. I wanted to love the romance, but it was too obvious too quickly. There were moments of intense blushing and long stares and that doesn't sell a romance for me.

Worldbuilding: Karthia was a fascinating world, I mean the motto was that change was bad! I wanted to learn so much more about the world than was actually given. I'm happy that there is plenty of potential for future books, but all of this open-endedness just made the book feel incomplete.

Short N Sweet: Reign of the Fallen will be a hit for many action-oriented readers, I just wanted more.

I always feel bad when I DNF a book, but this is my third of the year. I don't have time to waste on books that can't hold my interest. I usually always try to pick them up again to make sure it wasn't just my mood at the time. I'll try this book again later on. But for now, I DNF'd this at 20%.

I was pretty confused reading this from the get-go. I felt like the thoughts jumped around, the characters didn't reflect the emotions I felt they should, and some of the writing stylistically did not work for me.

There is a jump scene in chapter two (I think? It didn't read like a flashback, but it was a completely different scene from what had gone on a second ago.) and it bothered me immensely. I don't know enough about the characters to feel anything for them in a flashback.

A lot (and nothing at all, really) happened in the first 5 chapters. I felt it didn't bode well for the story. I, personally, felt like it was a false start - it would have worked better as a scene BEFORE the book, or further into the story.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2201139133?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

I enjoyed reading Reign of the Fallen. The action was well-paced, the storyline was great and I think the characters were very well developed. I did see the plot-twist coming but I think the hints were laid out to the reader more than the characters. I appreciated the grief process that Odessa goes through, that is not done very much in other books and I think approximately one-fourth of the book was based on Odessa’s loss and journey through the grief process. I would recommend this for fantasy readers and those who like magic, mystery and slow burn romance. This book has LGBT+ romances in it - bisexual, lesbian, gay. If you enjoyed reading Sabriel and necromantic magic, you would enjoy this story.

(2.5 stars) This book was one of my most anticipated releases for 2018, so I want you to understand where my immense disappointment is coming from — because I didn't give it a really bad rating, and I don't think it's a bad book, but I am very disappointed.

First of all, to clear up the vague "LGBT romance" line from the blurb: Odessa is bisexual has two love interests, one male and one female. There are also minor gay characters. No trans characters as far as I remember, so no, it's not really LGBT, just LGB.

I did like the second romance in this book, but the first one had me rolling my eyes with how much it bored me. And that's a problem, because if you want the character's emotions at losing the first love interest to really impact the reader, it's probably good if we cared about them in the first place, right?

Actually, so many relationships in this book made me feel completely underwhelmed. Odessa's supposedly extremely old and deep friendships with her fellow mages were fine on a basic level, but struck no emotional cord with me until the end, which is too late. And the friendship she makes within the book, with Princess Valoria, was... well, I could feel the author wanting this to be deep and epic and strong, and I wanted it to be too, but the thing that stood out most was a line when Valoria told Odessa how much she'd helped her realize her own worth, and I was thinking, "Wow! Wish we saw that!" because the maybe two lines of Odessa telling Valoria not to underestimate herself were not nearly enough to make it as deep and epic and strong as this should have been.

I wanted more. I wanted to feel these emotional connections in my soul, and I didn't.

As for world building: if you're going to tell me that one of the five faces of your god, the face of Change, has gone dark and therefore for hundreds of years not a single change has been allowed in this country, I want that explained! I want to know what makes them think the face of change is gone, I want to know how this effects day to day life, I want to know how the slow, almost unnoticeable changes that take place without people thinking are stopped, I want to know if people rebel against this! This isn't an idea you can casually throw out there and then not explain or barely explore at all, especially not if you want the arc of this idea to have any emotional weight at the end of the book.

The idea of change being banned was one of the most interesting things I was promised about this book. So the entire time... I just felt cheated.

The thought I keep coming back to is, "I would have enjoyed this book more if it never promised all this awesome worldbuilding in the first place." Then I could have just sat back and enjoyed the plot. But instead I spent the whole time keeping one eye out for these cool ideas to be addressed at some point, and it never happened. The book cared more about the plot than where the plot took place, and that's a shame. I read fantasy because I want to be someplace breathtaking and original. This book is fantasy because it's convenient for the plot.

But even when the plot suffered for lack of worldbuilding, it refused to delve into its own ideas. There's this whole thing with people's eye colors determining what magic they can use — it's the foundation of the magic system. So finding out that there's types of magic completely outside this system they've never questioned should shock the characters and us, right? Not in practice, because it's accepted with only vague and quickly forgotten surprise by the characters, and with eye-rolling by the reader because it's hard to be surprised by new facts about the magic system when you barely knew anything about it in the first place.

There were some plot twists that came as a surprise, at least. But the big reveal of the villain is made obvious far before Odessa finds out, which just feels lazy. It needed more subtlety.

The whole book felt half-finished and underdeveloped. It was okay. Probably even good, if you go in without my expectations, and it has canon gay and bi female characters, which is even better. But this world is shallow and the characters don't feel original or developed enough. I wanted it to be so much more interesting than it was.

Odessa is a rare type of mage: a necromancer. She can resurrect the dead. But not without a price – if any part of the dead’s body is seen by the living, the dead person turns into a Shade (think of an unholy combination between a Demogorgon and Venom, or, if you must, a zombie). When Odessa’s mentor mage turns up brutally murdered by a Shade, and other murders quickly follow, Odessa knows she has to do something before the Shades kill everyone she holds dear.

I have extremely mixed feelings about this book. There were things I really liked, and things that didn’t work for me at all. One of my issues was the severe lack of character development – Odessa and two other characters get some level development, everyone else is more or less a name on a page. So when people started dying, I didn’t really care. Odessa, however, cares a lot and spends a lot of time addicted to pain medication and grieving, which would have been a lot more interesting to read if I knew her at all as a character. For me, this plot line would’ve been better in a future series installment. There’s a lot of romance, and I liked some of it (Simeon and Danial for LIFE), and some of it annoyed me (Odessa and Evander, I’m looking at you). There’s a romance at the end that was excellent, but began a bit too soon for me – I could’ve done with the characters not getting together in this book, especially given their circumstances. I did like the diversity in the ethnicities of the characters as well as in the relationships.

I really enjoyed the worldbuilding. None of it was particularly new, per say, but it was all sort of assembled in a way that I thought was really rich and creative. I just wish that worldbuilding had been backed up by stronger characters and plot. Odessa spends a ton of time grieving, which makes sense, but didn’t exactly make for an exciting plot. That, and the deaths and twists were pretty transparently telegraphed. The identity of the proverbial “bad guy” was pretty obvious as soon as they appeared on the scene.

While this book didn’t work for me on a lot of levels, I think most readers will love it. There’s action, romance (LGBT+), diversity, and some seriously cool worldbuilding. 2.5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Razorbill for providing me with an electronic copy for review consideration.

*Note: I'll post this book two weeks out from publication date as that is when it will become available for patrons to put on hold.

Odessa, Sparrow, and her partner Evander are necromancers. They work together to bring the dead back to life. In this world, the king has an unending reign, because he is continuously brought back from the dead. Necromancers need to be extremely careful, because the dead can turn into shades, if they are looked upon or are alive for too long. To combat the shade transformation (envision zombie virus) necromancers need to kill and revive the dead. Things turn deadly, when shades begin appearing more frequently and killing more people. Something in this world has changed and Odessa must figure it out.

This world was well developed and well written. I had difficulty connecting to the characters. I didn't find myself interested in what happened to them, or hopeful for their success/safety. I had trouble connecting to the romantic interests. Though, I appreciated the inclusion of many types of sexuality

First of all, LOOK AT THAT COVER. It is absolutely gorgeous and what initially drew me in automatically adding it to my 'must reads of 2018' regardless of what the synopsis said. A good cover can automatically set the bar high for me, which is a recipe for disaster in many cases. Not in the case of Reign of the Fallen.

This book has a little bit of everything. Danger, Romance, Blood and Guts, Revenge, Beauty, Sorrow, Friendship, Frenemies. LGBTQ. My favorite thing about this that no one is invincible. I feel like most fantasy novels have one or two characters who are just unbreakable and that is unrealistic and boring to me. Give me adversity! Reign of the Fallen definitely has adversity. The magic in this world is incredible - I hope to learn more about the sights in the next book. The world building is incredible. I can't imagine a time I would've ever said, "there's a place called the Deadlands and it sounds amazing!" but...there's a place called the Deadlands and it sounds amazing! Sarah Glenn Marsh created such an interesting world, and I can only see it getting better as they branch out of Karthia.

Substance abuse is an issue that is tackled in the book, which is not the norm for fantasy novels. I mean, Haymitch was a drunk, but it was never *really* addressed just noted that District 13 was dry. RotF tackles a full on addiction and I'd call it one of the centerpieces of the book.

The relationship aspect has a little of everything for everyone. There are hetero relationships, same sex relationships, friends becoming more ships, enemies becoming more ships.

There are zombies, there are monsters, there is a woman who's magic involves being able to control animals and that is AWESOME.

Gender equality is a thing in this book!

Odessa was extremely well-written. I want Valoria to be my best friend. I want to drink beers with Jax. I wish Master Cymbre would've been my teacher. Kasmira seems like the kind of girl I'd find myself wanting to kiss because she seems so damn cool.

All in all, I have nothing bad to say about this book. The only thing I can say that slightly took me down a notch is that I figured out the "bad seed" early-ish on, which I rarely do. So I'm not sure if that's a sign that it's easy to figure out or if I really do belong in Karthia fighting alongside the necromancers ;)

I really enjoyed this book. The pace was great, the mystery was interesting, and the characters really made me want to learn more. It had a good twist in the middle, and that added to the story. If there will be a sequel, I look forward to reading it.

What I loved most about Reign of the Fallen was our main character, Sparrow, who is on one hand, super talented at being her bad ass necromancer self, and also a bit selfish. Her personal growth was so amazing to witness because she has to learn to handle her grief and still find purpose. Seriously. It was so amazing to witness our main heroine who is both legendary, but also incredibly fallible and vulnerable. Here's to humanity.

And diversity because not only is Sparrow bisexual, but most of the other characters are also queer. There's a m/m relationship and f/f relationship too. Having read Reign of the Fallen for my first book completed in 2018 was a real breath of fresh air. The romances were soft and sweet and the female friendship at the heart of the second half of the book is what my dreams are made of.

What I enjoyed -
- The sexual fluidity in this story. The heroine in this story is attracted to many regardless of their gender and I appreciated that. It’s not something new to me, as I read romance, but I enjoy seeing it in a YA read.
- The lore of the story and Karthia. It’s just an interesting starting point which I’ve never read before. The zombie story written in a new way. The Royalty being mostly made up of undead was interesting, and how a living blood royal had to join the necromancers to bring the dead back from the deadlands. But it’s risky since living can’t touch or see the shrouded undead or they will turn into uncontrollable blood thirsty shades. It’s like one of those is the reward of bringing loved ones back worth the risk of them turning shade? I love that’s Karthia has like its own “big debate,” even though it’s not an outwardly spoken debate. It’s just an interesting way to show how even in book life people can be split.
- I loved some of the side characters. Valoria, Evander, and Jax.

What I didn’t love -
- Odessa. She’s the heroine, and while there were bits I enjoyed about her. I think the timeline didn’t allow for her character development to be relatable or enjoyable. She has tragedy and struggles, but they are hard to relate to because of the timing and the short timeline this story is on.
- Some of the rules of bringing people back just didn’t make sense to me. I understand they had to be that way for the story to work, but they just frustrated me. I feel like had everyone been on equal playing ground with bringing loved ones back then this story could have been way more entertaining and tragic in ways.
- I didn’t LOVE Odessa’s love interest. It just didn’t feel right in the grand scheme of things. I think it’s hinted at fairly early on like before it’s even known as an option. I know some people enjoy the pairing, but I felt very meh about it.

All in all this was a great YA read. To me it felt unique and different in so many ways. I don’t read as much YA fantasy as some people, so I’m not sure what other books I could compare this to. I do think that anyone who enjoys angsty YA, with action, blood shed, zombies, royalty, and the question of to change or not to change... then this is a story you will enjoy.

I know there is another book listed to come out, and I REALLY REALLY hope that it is a change in main character. Like maybe a certain recently promoted royal would be a good one to follow? Hint. Hint.

Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh

First book in the Reign of the Fallen series

3 stars
Odessa is a master necromancer for the kingdom of Karthia. She is tasked alongside her partner and lover, Evander, with bringing back King Wylding- the dead king who has rule Karthia continuously. He is killed and brought by to life countless times to continue his reign. His soul is in the Deadlands and it must be brought back, but there is a price to be a soul outside of the Deadlands. The souls risk becoming Shades- monstrous creatures who feed off life. Shade attacks are rising at an alarming rate and someone is conspiring to raise Shades intentionally. Will Odessa’s skill as a necromancer be enough to save Karthia? Meh. I thought I was going to love this one. It has a promising premise and it sounds super awesome, but in all honesty, Reign of the Fallen is boring. It is lackluster in plot, description, and character development. I could not be bothered to really care what was happening to the characters because I did not care about what would happen. The stakes were high, but the character development was so lacking that the high stakes didn’t make for an unputdownable read. For instance, the world building, especially the descriptions of the Deadlands, were lacking in fullness. It felt as though the reader should already be familiar with this conceptual world and should know exactly what Marsh was describing. This caused Reign of the Fallen to read more like a sequel than the starting book in a series. I will give Marsh one thing: she is not afraid to kill off characters. This is only book one and very integral characters were killed off. It made the plot a little wonky, to be honest, but it also made me respect how ballsy Marsh is as an author. She is not afraid to take risks and chances with her characters. It’s very admirable. The downside is that the characters are so lackluster that I did not care what their fates were. However, Marsh’s strong suit is battle scenes. The battle scenes start out early and are very strong. It made for very thrilling chapters, but it quickly became boring when they weren’t fighting.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 3

The main female character is Odessa. I honestly don’t have much to say about Odessa. I thought her character development left much to be desired. At times I liked her and at others it felt as if she wasn’t really a character, but a grieving or killing machine. There was no in between. Either Odessa was wracked with grief or she was seeking vengeance and wanted to kill everything in her path. It wasn’t effective.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 2.5

Reign of the Fallen has incredibly diverse characters. Odessa is bisexual. Her two male friends are in a very healthy strong relationship. Meredy, an eventual love interest, is lesbian. There is a lot of representation in this fantasy novel, which is great because fantasy is not as diverse as one would think, but it is getting there.


SPOILERS ABOUND So, Odessa’s first relationship is with Evander. They have been together for a very long time and have a strong passionate relationship. Evander is killed in the Deadlands by a Shade relatively early on and it causes Odessa to experience a lot of grief and pain. This leads to making a lot of misguided and uncomfortable romantic decisions that made me feel a little icky. First problem: Odessa starts a friends with benefits relationship with Jax, Evander’s best friend, to help fill the void of Evander’s death. It doesn’t take long for this to occur and it made me really uncomfortable because it is one of my least favorite tropes when characters hook up to cope with grief or heartache. It is not effective and it actually causes more damage than healing. So, that left a sour taste in my mouth. Then, Odessa falls into instalove with Evander’s sister, Meredy. Talk about awkward. My biggest problem with this is best described by this quote,
“Not after we’ve finally started talking about Evander, sharing memories to keep him with us. Not after… well, everything she’s become to me.”
It’s just too much. If Meredy was anyone else in the court it wouldn’t be awkward, but it’s her dead lover’s sister. It’s just so uncomfortable and every time I would get over it and start to think their relationship was cute, she would mention Meredy and Evander looking similar and I felt creeped out again. It made me wonder if Odessa actually has feelings for Meredy or if she is trying to recapture Evander by being in a relationship with someone so similar to him.


So, yeah. That was the biggest problem I had with this novel. The love interests were just… odd. However, Valoria was a really cool character and I really enjoyed her friendship with Odessa. I just wanted to see more of their friendship outside of the little bit we did.


Character Scale: 2.5

I do think a lot of people will love and adore the Reign of the Fallen. I just wasn’t one of them. The good news is that it ends like a standalone novel and I don’t feel like have to pick up the sequel, which is nice because I don’t think I will. I have a feeling this will be a favorite for a lot of fantasy fans and I look forward to seeing everyone’s excitement over this novel once it’s released.


Plotastic Scale: 3.25

Cover Thoughts: I LOVE this cover. It’s fabulous.

Thank you, Razorbill/ Penguin for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book, but I thought some of the relationships felt forced, I won't go into detail to avoid spoilers. I did think the world created in this story was very interesting and creative. I also look forward to the sequels.

I have very strange feelings about this book and I’m pretty sure I’m going to struggle to try to articulate them. I liked a lot about Reign of the Fallen but at the same time, a lot of it fell just short of hitting its mark. I found the world and the magic exciting, and I enjoyed the main character. But there were some ideas I felt weren’t fully fleshed out, as well as some characters who were underdeveloped.

First, I just really enjoyed the concept of necromancy as it was shown in this book. I don’t usually reach for necromancer characters, but I don’t avoid them either. That said, I have very little experience with this type of magical character, so for me, the way Marsh handled it was new and exciting. I’ve only ever seen necromancers raise corpses into zombie-like beings, through magic. But the necromancers of this world actually travel through gates into the Deadlands where spirits roam before moving on entirely and bring the spirit back to its body. I’ve never read anything quite like this particular version of the afterlife and it was very intriguing.

I also liked that the mystery surprised me a bit. I thought for sure that there was going to be a twist for one character to turn out bad, but that twist happened to a different character entirely. I was paying such close attention to the wrong person that I totally missed any signs that may have been planted, foreshadowing this person’s guilt.

The magic system in Reign of the Fallen is a bit underdeveloped for my taste. For example, Odessa, the main character, is known for her ability to navigate the Deadlands. A “pull at her navel” directs her where to go. But this was never explained throughout the whole book. Not all necromancers have this ability – in fact, she’s the only one. So I would have liked to see that explained somehow. What we did get to see explained, I really liked though. The magic was tied to eye color. Necromancers have blue eyes; beastmages have green eyes; inventors have brown eyes. There were a few others, too, but those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. There was also always a price for the magic done. For examples, necromancers cannot be raised after death. They have one life. This brought an interesting bit of conflict to a number of the necromancer characters and is definitely something I think I’d struggle with if I lived in that world. Though I’d be an inventor, lol.

My biggest problem with the book was that there was so much potential, but so much felt underdeveloped, particularly the ideas it seemed it wanted to address. King Wylding, the ruler of Karthia has ruled for centuries, being raised from death over and over again. He is very stuck in his ways and has gone so far as to erase one of the sides of their five-faced god – the face of Change. He overrules anyone who tries to better Karthia in any way, including the inventions of one of his descendants, Valoria. She created sewer systems to rid waste from the communities, thus eliminating illnesses. But he shut her down because that would mean Change. This idea seemed heavy-handed in the beginning of the book but was mostly dropped after about a third of the story. Wylding is shown as extremely loving and benevolent. He’s well-loved by his people. But I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why. He wouldn’t even let Karthian citizens leave; no one in the entire kingdom knows what lies beyond their shores. It’s very strange and never, ever explained. Why was Wylding like this, and why was it celebrated while his people suffered?

The characters were also underdeveloped to me. I liked Odessa enough, but she did a few things that were out of character, and at a lot of major points she really annoyed me. Especially during big battle scenes where she would narrate the action while holding the sword that could stop the attack. I couldn’t figure out why she just stood there and let people get hurt instead of swinging her damn blade. Mostly, though, I wanted some background. We know she is an orphan and one of the master necromancers was her mentor growing up. I’m unused to having orphans in fantasy settings without their parentage being revealed in a big way. Her upbringing did lead her to her job as a necromancer and I did like how that tied together.

There were a handful of side characters, and in my opinion, too many. I don’t feel like I got to know the other necromancers well at all. And not a single one of them seemed to have motivations outside of helping Odessa in whatever quest she had tasked herself with. They listened to her orders for no real reason other than that they liked her. The only person who really stood up to Odessa’s ridiculousness was her love interest, Meredy, a beast mage who was amazing. She’s seriously such an interesting character who had been through hell and back. Also, she had a grizzly bear as her familiar which YES. I really liked Meredy’s sass and take-no-shit attitude. I loved her, even more, when she showed her vulnerable side, especially in her friendship with Valoria. However, the ship really grossed me out because she is Odessa’s dead boyfriend’s sister. Evander died in the first quarter of the book and Odessa mourns him throughout the rest of the story. Meredy reminds Odessa of Evander at every turn. They smile alike, they look alike, they shared an upbringing. It just made me uncomfortable, and when Odessa said she wanted to taste Meredy, “to see if she tastes like Evander,” it really sent me over the edge. I don’t unship it, but it squicks me out a lot. Which is a shame, because they do go so well together. I just wish Marsh hadn’t made the choice to have the love interests be siblings. There were ways around the story without that detail. « Hide Spoiler

In the end, I do plan on keeping up with the series and seeing where it goes. It ended on a very open note, one that leaves me guessing where the series is going to go. I liked Odessa’s choice at the end, and her reasons why, but I wish she had gone about it differently. In any case, I actually have a few theories as to where Odessa is headed both physically and in her heart.

This was not my favorite book of the year, but it was fun and fast-paced. I loved the diversity of the main character and the side characters. Odessa is bisexual; Meredy is a lesbian I believe. There is at least one other wlw character, and an m/m side couple, plus a wide range of racial diversity as well. If you’re looking for more fantasy in that vein or fantasy with a fun twist on necromancy, this is definitely one to check out.

This book. Wow. I am blown away by how gorgeous and intricate this world is. This is one of the most original fantasy worlds I've seen in awhile. All these characters were phenomenal and I appreciated each of them. The side characters contributed to the story and weren't just there for more word count (which is my biggest pet peeve).

I was so floored when I heard the premise. An LGBTQ+ fantasy? I want more of these and I was so in love with this romance. I want more badass women who get the girl in the end. It's such a positive message for LGBTQ+ youth and we need more of that in publishing.

The cover is honestly stunning and I can't stop staring at it. As much as we like to say not to judge a book by its cover, we do it anyways.