Fate of the Fallen

Fate of the Fallen is a novel that thrives on turning tropes upside down. Kel Kade has given us a story that feels in many ways like classic fantasy. The normal tropes you’d expect exist, but they are turned almost exactly upside down. It definitely creates an interesting feel. In this regard, the book doesn’t pull any punches as it somehow manages to be bleak without feeling hopeless.

One of the most obvious things that stands out in this novel is the denial of tropes. This goes beyond questions of prophecy and heroes and the sort of things that the back cover gets you thinking about. There are moments in the story when you have to just take a moment and kind of force yourself to accept that, yes, Kade did go there, Kade did do that. While the book has many of the trappings of classic fantasy—plucky upstart hero from a small town with a prophecy behind him—the story is worked out in such fresh ways that the tropes are denied, sometimes in very in-your-face fashion. It definitely keeps things fresh and brings up a ton of questions that keep the pages turning. There is also some very cool world building in terms of the pantheon of gods we meet in this novel. I always love stories that construct unique pantheons, and Kade’s story certainly does so. In fact, I actually found the gods to be among the most interesting and engaging characters in the book. I want to know more about them and their plans and machinations. This in and of itself subverts expectations because in much classic fantasy the gods are more distant, and while they might play a role here or there in the plot, they are—generally speaking—not truly among the list of characters influencing the story directly. I loved how Kade used them in interesting ways that never felt like deus ex machina. Humor is also used to great effect throughout the novel. At times it lightens the tone, turning what could be hopelessly dire into a moment that feels real. Sometimes the humor is morbid, but I like my humor morbid, so I didn’t mind this at all.

There were a number of weaknesses to this one. Outside of the gods, the world building felt rather vanilla to me. There are nations and kings and castles and knights, but none of that is really defined very much. The world felt somewhat flat in that regard, rather than richly detailed. I tend to love world building in my fantasy, folks who care less about that would probably not notice this as it doesn’t jump off the page as a problem. It’s simply a lack of something I expect in epic fantasy. The plot also has a tendency to meander a bit in this novel. Which is too bad, because in so many other ways the book subverts classic fantasy expectations. In this sense it’s very much similar to other classic fantasy where it takes awhile for the goal to become evident and where, even after it has, it can feel like characters are meandering about—sometimes literally. Perhaps most frustrating for me was a tendency to tell rather than show, especially when it comes to character development. For instance, we might be told that someone felt a certain way about a situation, rather than being shown they felt that way through their actions or reactions.

Fate of the Fallen is a fun start to a series with a great deal of potential. It has its share of weaknesses, but I’ll be interested to see where the series goes from here. This first volume will have extra appeal to those who love seeing tropes viciously subverted.

7.0/10

3.5/5 stars.

5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile
4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile
3 – It was ok, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time
2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it
1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing