Falling Kingdoms by Michelle Rowen

War brought them together. Love will tear them apart. Princess Cleo of Mytica confronts violence for the first time in her life when a shocking murder sets her kingdom on a path to collapse. Once a privileged royal, Cleo must now summon the strength to survive in this new world and fight for her rightful place as Queen. The King of Limeros’s son, Magnus, must plan each footstep with shrewd, sharp guile if he is to earn his powerful father’s trust, while his sister, Lucia, discovers a terrifying secret about her heritage that will change everything. Rebellious Jonas lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country cruelly impoverished—and finds himself the leader of a people’s revolution centuries in the making. Witches, if found, are put to death, and Watchers, immortal beings who take the shape of hawks to visit the human world, have been almost entirely forgotten. A vicious power struggle quickly escalates to war, and these four young people collide against each other and the rise of elementia, the magic that can topple kingdoms and crown a ruler in the same day.

Lost magic, three kingdoms, three teens. That is the basic structure of Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes. But this book is about more than just the lost magic and the three kingdoms. It is about Cleo's journey to save her sister, Magnus's journey towards love, and Jonas's journey towards revenge.

I really enjoyed the alternating perspectives in the books. They went beyond the three characters that book focuses on. But for the most part they stuck to the three kingdoms (Paelsia, Limeros, and Auranos) and the kindred. While at times I would get frustrated because I would want to know more about a certain character but had to read a few chapters before I found out what happened. But that just goes to show how enthralled I was with this book. Once I was about 100 pages in and the story and journey became apparent, I didn't want to put this down and finished it in one sitting.

The 2nd half of this book is leading up to a major battle between the three kingdoms and all the secrets everyone is keeping are exposed. I loved how we got the perspective of each kingdom on the oncoming bloodshed. Some of the choices made in the book were absolutely devastating. While some characters needed to die for the story to progress, I really disagreed with other deaths.

Throughout the book Ioannes really intrigued me. It was like the creepy stalker watching all the characters and seeing what they are up to. He clearly is an important character in these series, we just don't know the full extent yet.

Overall, this was a great introduction to the world and these characters. I cannot wait to continue on with the series in Rebel Spring. Morgan Rhodes is a fantastic writer and has a way of pulling you into a story.

This book was a reread for me. First time around (in the far 2015) I was not impressed by this novel and I was not smitten with it now.

The idea itself is more or less good. But sometimes it feels as if the author wanted to make something grand from it, some big book of wise sayings. But I've already knew that as I started reading it (reread, remember?). I've heard that the series gets better with every book. I do want to check if it is true. I don't have big expectations, I just hope that it will be decent enough.