_edited.jpg)
5 stars! This review will contain no spoilers for Gathering Darkness! However, there will be spoilers Falling Kingdoms and Rebel Spring if you have not read them yet!
Summary:
Gathering Darkness is the third installment in the Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes. After the end of Rebel Spring, we know that everyone is in the mindset of “to each their own.” Everyone wants the Kindred for their own reasons. The Kindred are four elemental crystals that each hold an essence of element magic at its purest.
First, there’s Magnus, who wants the crystals to avenge the mother he knows his father has murdered. To be powerful enough to overtake his father, King Gaius. King Gaius wants the crystals to become immortal and godlike (essentially even more powerful than he already is as King of Mytica).
Then there are the Kraeshians from across the Silver Sea who have come to Mytica with the pretense of visiting, but they have their own reasons for exploring the land of legends of the Kindred. Prince Ashur and Princess Amara are royal siblings who’s motive for finding the Kindred are still unknown.
There is also Princess Cleo and the rebels. Cleo and Jonas have an ongoing alliance to find the Kindred in order to win back the kingdoms that were taken from them. Jonas however, after the battle at the road camp, has very few rebels left on his side and his priorities are to retrieve his missing companions first.
Lastly, in another dimension, the watchers or really just Melenia is trying to find the Kindred and use Lucia’s powers to escape the Sanctuary.
The big question is… Who will find them first?
Wow, after taking such a long break from the Falling Kingdoms series, I forgot how thrilling reading these books are. I love all the multiple points of views, all the sneaking around and secrets, and especially all the relationships (both friend and romantic) that grow or collapse in this series. This book is ALL twists and turns and betrayals and vengeance. Such a good book. It’s one of those stories where you really never know what to expect! I was taken by surprise so many times in less than 400 pages and my anxiety was killing me because I wanted my babies to be safe, but you never know what will happen next. No one is safe!
*I read this using Audible! Fred Berman is such a GREAT narrator! And trust me when I say that reading this book using Audible (and NOT being able to read ahead) is so perfect because the surprises just hit you that much more!*
Plot:
Like I said above, this book just kept constantly taking me by surprise. I found myself going “Oh my gods no way!” and “What?! No?!” quite a lot. And I love that. I like how I could make a few assumptions on some plot points, but other times really crazy things would happen. And what makes these twists and turns even more entertaining are the POVs! There are some scenes that happen in one person’s POV, and then the same scene will happen from another person’s and you really get a full view of everything thats going on and what’s going on in peoples head. Sometimes when the same scene is played multiple times, it can get redundant, but that never happens in this book! I truly truly love knowing what every single character is thinking and knowing why they are doing what they are doing.
Even though it seems like I’m saying we basically know everything that’s going on, that’s not true. We get so much information from every person, but lots are still left to the imagination. Especially the more romantic thoughts and feelings. I LOVE ALL THE RELATIONSHIPS IN THIS BOOK. Going into this book, I was a die hard Magnus+Cleo, Lysandra+Jonas, Nic+Ashur lover… STILL AM! Yes, I love them all so so so much. And if you’re looking for that long, drawn out, type of relationship growth: this book is IT! Relationships that spawn from hatred are the best to me.
Now there’s the action scenes and the sneaking around scenes to talk about. These built up a good amount of suspense, but I was hoping for more usually. Don’t get me wrong. During every fight scene, I was on the edge of my seat just not for very long. I wish some of the fighting scenes were drawn out more. I want to see the skill of the fighters who claim they have been practicing swordplay since they were really young. Still, they were vivid none the less and really easy to picture.
The sneaking around was done to perfection though. It was the behind the scenes sneaking around of certain characters that contributed most to those twists and turns I keep mentioning. Ohmygosh, I just really really love it when something happens that I couldn’t predict on my own. Altogether full of many surprises and absolutely THRILLING!
Characters:
There are some characters in this series that I just die to be in their POV, and there’s some who I wish would jump off a cliff (but mostly because they’re evil.
Of the characters I LOVE, there are Magnus and Cleo and Nic. I really do like Jonas and Lysandra’s parts, but not necessarily on the same level as those three. I will forever be a Magnus supporter because I just know his character are is going to be a long and painful one, but with an ending that is so worth it! Cleo was already a favorite of mine because of book two, knowing that she just has so much heart and strength and resolve and agency to take back her throne. Yet, she will not do it in a ruthless kind of way, but a clever way. She’s just great all around now. Nic I enjoy thoroughly because of his contribution to the LGBT+ part of the book. I ship him and Ashur so much! Also, his dialogue is probably the most straight forward and the funniest in the whole series. At least to me.
About Jonas… Can we talk about how he’s the “Jason Grace” of this series. (I know I make a lot of Percy Jackson references, but basically what I mean is that Jonas seem to try to do so much and yet, gets basically nothing done in the end). He just tries so hard and we love him for being the leader, the one with the plans… But I’ve only seen one of his plans go semi-well so far. Lysandra however, is a beast. As all Lysandras are. First of all, I love her name. Second of all, I like how she knows that if she wants anything done, the only people so can count on is herself. And being strong like that is very admirable to me considering that’s one trait Cleo actually lacks. Another one of the rebels is a new guys name Felix. I don't want to say too much about him, but I already feel like he's going to become one of my favorites if we see more of him in Frozen Tides! He's basically an assassin with a hot bod, nice face, witty comebacks, and great sense of humor. What else do you need?
Now the people I don’t like. It’s not even people. It’s just Amara. She can die in a ditch. Actually I hope something worse happens to her because it just needs to. She’s ruthless and horrible and disgusting and honorees and many other bad things. She was written to be a great villain and thats probably why I dislike her so freakin’ much.
Overall:
Phew! There’s so much that happened in this book that I wish I could have a spoilery discussion with some people about it and make prediction about whats to come in the next book. I mean I keep suing this word, but nothing describes this story any better than THRILLING! 100% suck-you-in-from-page-one-and-make-you-want-to-ignore-the-world-till-you-finish kind of book. I’m already reading Frozen Tides and can’t wait to review that book soon!
Thanks for reading! :)