Alright, without further ado, here's the review... (haha, that rhymes) (I'm so witty) (not really) (oh, just ignore me, it's not like I'm a writer or anything... o_O...)
(oh, and p.s., there is one uber-minor spoiler, but you'll be forwarned)
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I felt the knife shake in my grip and I steadied it.
I gathered together all the deaths and pain that I knew to call on.
I drew upon Kraehe, and I drew upon Luffie, and I drew upon Tobias.
This is a murderer, I chanted to myself.
This is a murderer and I do not know him.
Oh, my traitorous heart.
Damn you, Tess Williams. Why couldn't you have just killed off Cyric before Ellia had the chance to infect me with all the feelings?!
What a roller coaster of emotions…I actually cried. Tears. For Cyric!! Not something I could have ever imagined myself doing after finishing book one.
Fallen Kingdom opens on a battle field, jumping right back into the thick of things. Ellia and Cyric each remain on opposing sides of the war, both doing their damnedest not to let their thoughts stray to the other.
Of course, this separation couldn't go on forever, because then where would our story be?
So when Ellia sacrifices herself by sending a wounded fellow warrior off on her chimera (spoiler)[and let me just say, I love that more time is being given to the granted animals throughout this book (un-spoiler)] she is taken captive (yes, again. that's gotta smart) and transported back to Akadia, and back to Cyric.
I loved Ellia's bravado, her fighting spirit. She's really come into her own this installment.
I did not love listening to stupid Cyric's stupid rationalizations for all the stupid stupid stupid things he does. Idiot. (No, that's a lie, I really love to hate that boy.)
It's all right though, because Ellia has a plan to regain her freedom. After all, she is a Ciralli warrior. Able to easily out-skill any of their best fighters, even kill them, to free herself.
Except Cyric's her designated keeper, and there's a big difference in turning your mind away from someone who was once your friend, and galvanizing yourself to kill them.
I felt my fists coiling with rage. I would have killed them--I would have killed anyone that Lox had left me with, I’d already determined to. I’d been in battles. I knew how to kill evil men. But why had it been Cyric?
With book one fresh in my mind, I had no such compunction. What matter that it's Cyric, Elia? Kill him, kill
She doesn't, of course. And as time went on I would, more often than not, find myself smiling stupidly at their exchanges. Though in my defense, much of this was for all the moxy our heroine was displaying.
Weren’t battles still waging? Weren’t people still dying? And wasn’t I on the opposite side of Cyric? Yet at the same time, I had never felt more sure of who I was and what I was doing.
...I’d seen who he was; now everything he did, every way he responded made me more sure that he was not evil. That he had only convinced himself to be, that he was confused, and scared. This was Cyric Dracla. He was my best friend. I knew him. He’d been mine from the moment I’d seen him, I’d decided this.
I’d let him go because deaths and wars and betrayal made all of that not matter. And here I was with the same dilemma, yet I felt certain that it was not right to abandon him anymore.
Somehow, someway, (I still don't know when or how she did it) Ellia won me over to her way of thinking. That is one loyal and determined friend.
At the end of the first book I scoffed, 'There is no way that boy could ever redeem himself in my eyes', but now I say 'Redeem yourself, Cyric! Redeem yourself!! You can do it!!!'
Tess Williams has managed that rare feat of creating a sequel even better than the first, so if you haven't read Fallen Prince yet- I am officially giving you the all clear.
Bring on book three!
*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*
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AND... that's all folks. Have a great week!
