Title: Falling Kingdoms (#1 of the Falling Kingdoms Series)
Author: Morgan Rhodes (pen name)/Michelle Rowan
Publisher: Razorbill
Lucia's rating: 5/5 (can I give more?)
5 stars.
Falling Kingdoms. Oh, how this broke my heart. This is truly one of the best books I have ever read in 2013. Not to mention, it reminds me of Game of Thrones a bit with the incest and uprising wars between the three kingdoms vying over power. But this is the Game of Thrones for teenagers.
Let's talk about the kingdom that the story started with.
Paelsia. The most poverty-filled kingdom, stuck in the middle between Limeros and Auranos. It's a kingdom with dying civilians relying on a man who proclaims that he is a sorcerer, Chief Basilius and the business of selling booze to its neighbors.
The princess of Auranos is visiting there with her 'betrothed,' Lord Aron who nobody likes because he has an attitude of a brat to get some wine for his friends. Then, someone gets killed during the process of Aron's time to go shopping for wine. Then one of our male protagonists who resides in Paelsia, Jonas decides to go on a quest. To do something about it, about Cleo and Aron's involvement in someone's murder.
Jonas and Cleo's relationship is one that makes me giggle, strangely. Because Cleo's not what Jonas expected her to be. Named after the goddess of air and darkness after all.
Back in Limeros (the north of Mytia), there's two royals. Lucia and Magnus. Oh, how I love Ms. Rhodes for picking such awesome names. So yes, they are brother and sister. And our darling, Magnus harbors romantic feelings to his sister, Lucia. Like he is obsessed with her.
If I was Lucia (and ironically my name is Lucia), I would probably swoon all over him already. The harsh reality made me worry though because you have a brother who you have been calling as your protector, your savior, your best friend then suddenly he tells you that he has romantic feelings for you? What kind of brother is that? Then she realizes she has this destiny and magical power. A bit like Daenerys Targaryen with the dragons thing. Lucia's father (and no, not my father), King Gauis (king of Limeros) has this evil scheme for her. There are times that I wanted to throttle Lucia's mind and ask if she's alright or just insane to even to put herself into danger. It's just like a 'no-no' for me. Even though I support Magnus, I think that he exposed too much vulnerability towards Lucia then she just took advantage of that. Don't even start on Magnus's frustration on the number of guys who simply want to court Lucia. I mean, why?
I can't address much about incest without making a full, 5,000+ words essay along so I'll skip that. ;)
Overall, this is one of my favorites by far. Ms. Rhodes proved herself to be a great writer by showing us how versatile she can be as a writer. I wish this story gets more popularized and I can't wait for the sequel!
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