Fallen

9/10

CAWPILE SCORE
C-8
A-8
W-8
P-7
I-9
L-9
E-10
TOTAL-8.43/10

Just friggin wow. This is a Year later. Anne outed thanks to STUPID CALDERA!! But thanks to her Alex is back in business CAWPILECharactersAlex—Bonding with the Fateweaver. Can't play both sides. Embraces his “dark” side. Totally ruthless. Absolutely destroys Onyx, Pyre. Who are all gangster thugs for some reason. Really fell off.. Alex being controlled by Crystal. Can he stop using the fateweaver enough to be able to let anne heal him. Alex “cut” off a part of himself as well the decisive and accept consequences Shireen's “lie” Rachel has to be redeemed. No Rachel has to “turn”Cinder and Alex very similarOnyx—regressing. Not forward thinking only revengeAnne—Dark Anne in control again, but now Alex can't get to regular Anne. Anne should've known that wasn't Verus. Totally out of character for him. Totally destroys Sal SarqueRichard—he totally is a diviner!! But he has a Jinn.. he can shutdown Jinn with his dreamstone. His black magic is a JinnRachel—Super unstable, Alex drives more crazy with Meredith. She disintegrates his dreamstone. Has an Unstable Jinn AtmosphereAlex's desperation leaps of the page, but his shift in mentality, calm cool collected almost eerie after wardWritingA few nitpicks, Alex realizing something and we don't learn it till later. Phrases like I knew Richards magic. End chapter. A shorter book by about 50 pagesPlotAlex running from Council has to get stronger. Takes the Fateweaver. Joins with it in ELSEWHERE. Free's Anne from Richards control, but Anne is still dark Anne.—Forced Merge in the future I think. InvestmentChap 12 scary cool.LogicThe Growth of Alex was expected and yet totally unexpected. His ruthlessness has always been there, but subdued a little bit. Not any more.EnjoymentMiscIts that “easy?” you're powers are basically built for each other. But the more he uses it the more he TransformsLoss of Arachne. Council comes for her. The DRAGON freaking rescues her. Anne's family treat her like a servant.Caldera treats his life like a game now. Poor CalderaAlex's Final refusal of Richard Arachne's Letter.
I will be talking about it on Libromancy https://libromancy.podbean.com/ on 08/21/22

Things have changed a lot for Alex since Fated. There are things I miss about the earlier books, but the series is still compelling.

Things are noticeably moving to a head in this tenth book in the series, with some of the ongoing plot threads tied up. On the downside, there's less of the world-building than usual, the pieces already being set up and not much new added. There are no significant new characters in this one, either, although a few older characters that we haven't seen for some time make a welcome return. Still, with the body count quite high in this one, the cast is shrinking rather than expanding as the end of the series approaches.

Arguably, nothing much really happens in the first part of the book until things suddenly go off the rails and Alex is on the run. Again. What follows includes some really quite brutal scenes, some of which involve Alex being a rather darker and less sympathetic character than before. Sure, it's always been there in earlier books, and the situation he's in is dire, but this one seems to be pushing at the boundaries more than it did before. Which makes, at least for me, a less enjoyable read, even if the specific events are justifiable in context. There's a dramatic climax, sure, but even that seems to be pushing towards a darker story - and not just because of what the villains are doing.

Let me state clearly where I stand when it comes to Alex Verus: I think he's the greatest Urban Fantasy protagonist ever. I've enjoyed every single book in the series and I enjoyed this latest instalment as well – just not as much as most of the others, unfortunately. Why though? The trademark humour is there, Luna is there and so are Anne, Variam, Arachne and others. Sadly, they mostly take a place on the backseat this time. Luna barely gets any serious “stage” time; she's generally around and worries a lot but doesn't get to do or experience much. For such an important character that's pretty sad. We do get to see more of Anne who has a more “active” role in the proceedings but she remains unrefined and pale compared to many other characters. Maybe part of that is my own perception, though; I've never felt that Anne added much to the books – she always felt like the obligatory love interest and I never found her especially interesting. It's probably because of that I don't care very much about the role she plays in this tenth book. Personally, I think even the air elemental Starbreeze – who is FINALLY back in this book – is a lot more interesting and even more important. The story is rather simple as well: The war between Britain's Light Council and Richard Drakh is ongoing and Alex comes to realise he will have to step up his game and make some hard decisions in order to actually achieve at least some of his goals and protect those he loves. And that he does: He plunges head first into the action and does what has to be done – the personal consequences – as of yet unclear – be damned. The personal and character changes these bring are subtly shown by Jacka and that's a large part of why I still enjoyed this book. One of the major downsides can best be illustrated by a direct quote from the book: “I looked at the house for a moment longer, feeling as though a very old piece of unfinished business had just come to an end.” Reading many parts of this book makes me feel exactly like that: “Being on a clock” (as Alex puts it) – because we're nearing the end of the series – makes Jacka pick up loose threads from earlier books (so loose I often didn't even remember them...) and put quite some effort into resolving them. That, in itself, is commendable but I'd rather have had some real character development beyond Alex himself and that is sorely lacking in “Fallen”, unfortunately. Jacka is setting up his stage for the final books, makes previous characters reappear (cf. Starbreeze or Meredith), makes some others disappear (and that one character to boot! How dare he!) and is generally preparing to move on to greener pastures. That we feel this in the tenth of twelve planned books is a bit premature, I think. Maybe, though, it's again me who already feels saddened by the thought of having to say goodbye to Alex Verus whose adventures have brightened up my reading time. Last but not least, don't worry if you're a fan – you will enjoy “Fallen” (aptly titled!) as it's fast-paced, suspenseful and features much of what we came to love. I just wish it had been less of a “blast from the past” and more of a future-oriented book. If you're new to Alex Verus, don't start with this book, though. This is one of those series you need to read in order. Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram

Another excellent entry in the series - and the stakes are higher and the action more intense than anything seen in previous books. A few arcs (stretching as far back as the first book) seem to be resolved but plenty of work remains for Alex and friends in the upcoming final two books. Maybe there will be more than the planned twelve books? I'm no diviner, but this reader, for one, will not be disappointed if that turns out to be true.