This was totally up my alley! Necromancers don't get enough love or attention in the literature world. I love the fact that even though Odessa can be the "tough chick" while still getting to have a soft side. I'm all for having sexual equality but I have to admit that this felt a little forced and kind of thrown in badly. The rest of the story was wonderful. Keep it up Sarah!

The kingdom of Karthia is ruled by the dead and sustained by the living, and mediated by those with the Sight. It is a world so perfectly balanced that change itself has been forcibly banished: the undead King Wylding has decreed that all remain as it was when he lived, and for two hundred years it has remained so, thanks in no small part to the ice-eyed necromancers who serve the king.

Odessa is a particularly gifted necromancer, one who can innately sense the ever-shifting locations of the deadlands. She values her work and is valued in turn, favored by the king as his "sparrow," one who swiftly returns him from his periodic dips into death. He and those like him, the undead in command of their faculties, are prone to madness the more time they spend outside the deadlands and so must repeatedly die to refresh themselves. But the process is not without danger: if anyone living glimpses the flesh of the dead, those dead become mindless horrors called Shades, and all their wisdom turns to hunger.

But Odessa and her fellow necromancers are beyond careful to never let that happen. Yet despite their precautions, Shades and deaths are rising. In such a tormented world, is it possible to keep faith with the dead and the living? Is it better to hold on, or to let go?

I was promised a book that exploded gender boundaries (see jacket quote), but this really just features plenty of gay, bi, and lesbian characters. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled we now can have books where this is pervasive and un-remarked-upon. But it's not really exploding any boundaries. There are gay people. Their romances are sweet and fraught and loving, each depending more on the individuals in them than any sort of tokenism. I love it, but it's not exactly an explosion--and honestly, I prefer it that way.

Moving on: We're told that Odessa loves life, that she cared even for insects and shrubs, and that she loves to dance and drink and have fun. But that supposed exuberance hardly penetrates the narrative voice. Odessa seems affectionate but not passionate, and driven but not terribly happy or deeply in love with the world. Much is made of her strong emotions, but--and perhaps this says more about me than the book--none of her reactions seem out of proportion. Unwise, perhaps, but not excessive. Nevertheless, I enjoyed following her through this world.

The writing is adequate to the story but not anything compelling on its own. I appreciate the effort put into the depictions of grief but it all just ends up seeming rather perfunctory. The broad swaths are there, but anyone who has experienced deep loss will be looking for particularity and reflection, and find themselves not entirely satisfied.

Sarah Glenn Marsh also takes on the topic of drug abuse, but I get the impression that Marsh hasn't done her research. The character who experiences it has some hallucinations, but also some nice friends who chain her to a bed, and then she's functional again, whee! Even if the author is trying to be delicate, this addiction and withdrawal is too pristine. We know she ups her dosage, but we don't really feel her cravings. We know she is pained by withdrawal, but don't see her vomiting, sweating, weeping. Marsh does too much telling rather than showing, and since we don't see the physical toll, the emotional toll is limited.

It's also just so compressed. Grief leads to a potent addiction, and then intervention, withdrawal and recovery within a few weeks. But it's so pat that it ends up seeming like this is all a straightforward, totally reasonable process, when in reality it's anything but.

Actually, the entire book is just a little too compressed. We don't get a chance for breath from the action, and neither do the characters, meaning that no one takes the time to step back and consider larger issues. There's the very large issue of whether the dead are worth the potential risk of Shades, and then there are the issues of trust, danger, and romance that characters are constantly reacting to, but rarely acting upon. This makes them seem more foolish than they ought to be, even the minor ones.

The most unfortunate example of this is when the nobles openly turn against the necromancers, which makes very little sense, since they depend utterly on the necromancers to raise them from the dead. There are literally no other alternatives. Why antagonize the people who can decide to leave you dead instead of resurrecting you? Or, even if you suspect them of a plot, why confront them about it directly? The dead don't seem to be any wiser than the living, and it's a mystery why the status quo has held for so long. Sure, the king has outlawed change (the exact nature of which is never explicit, since some things, like altering security and promoting people, seems fine), but we never see consequences for violating that. We don't see suppressed rebellions or detainment of potential escapees.

Perhaps this is a meditation on complacency, but we do see plenty of reasons to despise the status quo. Plague, poverty, inequality--and let's not underestimate humans' natural inclination to change. So what exactly is holding people back? How could one king be so beloved that citizens would endure decade after decade of the same thing? I'm not saying that King Wylding isn't appealing, but we don't see evidence of such superlative greatness that would justify outlawing change itself.

King Wylding isn't the villain, though. One of the villains is...well, if you've read any of the Sabriel books, particularly Clariel, you will see some similarities. I sighed when I read it. This book doesn't really want to draw comparisons with Garth Nix, because it will lose.

The denouement and climax are predictable and poorly paced. Also, even though his methods are stupid (wrong too, but mostly stupid), I agree with the villain. Not in a oh-but-he's-so-hot-and-misunderstood way; in an actual, factual, his-ideas-are-superior way. Odessa decides that he's mad, but I think he's insightful. In another story, he's the hero. Oh, he ruins it by being unnecessarily violent, but I think that was needed to make this even seem like a reasonable fight. And that's disappointing, because the ideas are in conflict with the execution (pun intended) and the whole thing becomes an emotional muddle, though a readable one.

This is a good effort from Marsh, but I don't think she's gone deep enough with her characters or the topics. The world, the ideas, and the motivations are all there, but the execution doesn't elevate them. Perhaps if we return to this world and see what happens a little further on in time, or long before the era of No Change, we might find some challenges really worth exploring.

Thank you NG for the ARC digital edition.
I am generally not a fan of things involving necromancers or raising the dead. The entire idea to me is off-putting as I was raised in a funeral home.
This book, however, enthralled me from page 1. The characters, the details, the loss, love, addiction, heartbreak, all revolved around the necromancy and ongoing troubles in the world in a way that made the plot advance without dragging. It also provided enough plot that you were hungry for more, not feeling rushed.
The LGBT characters never felt forced or generic. The sex of their partners wasn't the focus as much as who they loved. The addiction struggles felt real and were explained really well for anyone who hasn't suffered through the fight. Each character was independent enough to be their own person. The world building was sufficient to feel like it's own place, despite using words like "air balloon". The magic wasn't a fix-it-all solution to all their problems, which is a problem we see a lot in fantasy novels.
Overall I was very impressed with the book, and had a hard time putting it down.

The world created in 'Reign of the Fallen' was immediately engrossing. The system of magic was unique and implied a broader scope than was covered in this book- leaving it open for an excellent sequel. While I found the 'who-done-it' question and easy one to guess the answer to as the book neared its end, I cared so much about the characters by that point that I wanted to see it resolved. The real draw of this book for me is that it portrays young people who are bisexual, straight, and gay as equally 'ordinary' in their romance and their society takes little not of the difference.

This one just did not work for me. Before I get into that, I do want to say I am in the vast minority with this so I would definitely encourage you to check it out if it sounds interesting to you because this is very much a case of "it's not you it's me."

From the very beginning I was a little bored, to be honest. Something about the writing style just didn't pull me in at all. I was worried that maybe it was just my mood and that's what was making it so difficult, but I picked up another book and was immediately hooked, so it's just a problem of the style not working for me for whatever reason. I felt like things moved too fast, both plot wise and romance wise. I didn't really care about any of the characters, except maybe two, an inventor and a pirate, but they weren't there enough to make the entire thing interesting enough for me. Things would happen to the characters and you're supposed to be hurt with them, but I felt nothing. Odessa is kinda supposed to be this super great necromancer, but the only thing that's special is she can navigate the Deadlands really well - which is never explained, she just has a tug in her stomach that can lead her through the Deadlands. There's another necromancer who has a super interesting power, but that's not really explored either (even when there's a PERFECT chance to explore it). The worldbuilding was cool - this is a kingdom that hates change so everything has stayed the same for hundreds of years and the reasoning behind that, along with the necromancy, was interesting. I'm not one to usually care that much about worldbuilding, though, and for that to be one of the main positives for me is kinda sad. I'm more of a character reader and this book just didn't give me characters I could really care about, so I ended up being disappointed.

Like I said, I would definitely still check this out if you're interested! The main character is openly bisexual and there's a gay side character who's in a committed relationship with another man and they aren't discriminated against in any way, which was really nice.

Reign of the Fallen is an action packed fantasy, which pulls the reader into an immediate mystery wondering what happened to cause an experienced necromancer to enter the Deadlands alone and thus end up killed by Shades. The main character, Odessa, is a bi-sexual necromancer, who loves her necromancer partner, Evander. Odessa and Evander start investigating right away after discovering the death of the master necromancer.

The world building in Reign of the Fallen alone makes this book a joy to read. We encounter necromancers, dead royalty, a beast mage with a bear, and the hint of unchartered waters and worlds. There is also a range of emotions in Reign of the Fallen as our main character deals with deaths of those she loves, genocide, and betrayal.

Reign of the Fallen is a captivating swashbuckler of a novel with a ton of heart.

Fantasy with a bisexual narrator? Yes, please, I adored the world-building and character development, but I felt the secondary romance was incredibly rushed, and I felt it was a little squicky that she moved on with her dead semi-fiance's younger sister.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book but it just left me feeling dead...inside... The premise sounded great but it just didn't deliver for me. The main character was boring, the romance was just silly and predictable. The whole plot didn't make sense, the whole region isn't allowed to change or leave? That is just implausible.

I gave two stars because it was nice having a gender and sexuality equal world that didn't use those subjects as "character builders".

This novel is an example of a world that seeminglessly interweaves sexuality into their society. This is the example through which our society should seek to emulate. The sexuality of the main character does not define her, but is an element of her. She is still strong, vivacious, and a dedicated young woman. Her emotional journey is one many individuals can relate to who have experienced pain in their life’s.

I really enjoyed this book. The story is unique involving necromancers and zombies and I thought it was a lot of fun adventure. The main character Odessa was awesome and while I was frustrated with her downward spiral it was so real and she still managed to come back and be a badass, I can’t not love her. Princess Valoria was one of my favorite characters maybe of all time, I absolutely love her. She is strong and smart and doesn’t take crap from anyone while passionately caring for her friends. The characters were definitely one of the strongest parts of this book and I love that. They are all awesome and strong and powerful and it was great to read them. The story did get a little predictable but it didn’t make me enjoy it any less. And I felt too much time was spent in Odessa’s depression and while I get that it’s how people work sometimes and the realistic descriptions were wonderful, I still just didn’t like seeing her push her friends away and lie to the people around her because the actual story of what was going on around her seemed to completely get pushed to the back burner and slowed the story down a lot. Once we got past that I liked the story much better. This book was a surprise since I kind of accidentally picked it out but it turned out to be a great read with tons of action packed fighting and badass characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital ARC of “Reign of the Fallen” by Sarah Glenn Marsh. This book did not grab my attention. It felt much like other books in the genre I have read before. I think that those newer to the genre will enjoy it though and find its twists unexpected.

From the first paragraph until the end, Reign of the Fallen was a book I just couldn't put down. I felt like I fell into a special world I wanted to be a part of. It was so well written with a main character you in turn rooted for, ached for and, at times, wanted to slap. But she was never boring. The story was entertaining and different with a very unique cast of characters. And, for once, having sexually diverse characters was just part of the story and did not feel forced or gimmicky, as has been the case with other books lately. And that cover—beautiful!

Basically, this book was a well written, fun, escapist romp with great characters.