Week 26 Review: Reign of the Fallen

From Goodreads:

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 them by retrieving their souls from a dreamy and dangerous shadow world called the Deadlands. But there is a cost to being raised--the Dead must remain shrouded, or risk transforming into zombie-like monsters known as Shades. If even a hint of flesh is exposed, the grotesque transformation will begin.

A dramatic uptick in Shade attacks raises suspicions and fears among Odessa's necromancer community. Soon a crushing loss of one of their own reveals a disturbing conspiracy: someone is intentionally creating Shades by tearing shrouds from the Dead--and training them to attack. Odessa is faced with a terrifying question: What if her necromancer's magic is the weapon that brings Karthia to its knees?

My Review:
I had a really great time reading this book! This world of the different magics, and how Necromancers worked with the Dead and the Shades, it was so interesting to read! And oh, these characters, I cared for what they had going on in their lives! 

Odessa has been training most of her life to become a Master Necromancer. Alongside her is Evander, which was a bit of a red flag for me-most of the time, if there's an existing relationship at the start of the book, then something is going to go wrong. When the Shades become more prevalent and the situation gets more tense, well, it wasn't a surprise when he was killed. 

Watching Odessa deal with her grief as well as this mounting threat with the Shades was really interesting. She didn't want to worry her friends or cause them grief while this is going on, but they care for her. So I really enjoyed watching their tough love. 

That reveal of who was behind it all, that was really great! It was such a tense scene, with high emotions. Like, this dude was so entitled and he wanted more, and oh, I hated him for what he did. To see him thwarted, that was really satisfying to read and I'm happy with where we left these characters!

This was a fantastic read and I can't wait to read the sequel! 

Author: Sarah Glenn Marsh
Series: Reign of the Fallen #1
Read: June 25th, 2024
Source: Library
Reason Why: It sounded really god, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge Book and it's a Sophomore Challenge Book! 
Publisher: Listening Library
Published: January 23rd 2018

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars