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5 brilliant stars to another Falling Kingdoms novel! This review will be spoiler free for Crystal Storm, but there will be spoilers for the previous books!
Synopsis:
"The ruthless Empress Amara of Kraeshia has taken the Mytican throne, and now uncertainty looms over the three kingdoms. Since Lucia unleashed the fire Kindred, wreaking havoc throughout the land, Myticans have been looking for someone—anyone—they can trust. They believe in Amara, not knowing her grand promises are built on lies.
In Paelsia, Magnus and Cleo reluctantly follow King Gaius to the home of his exiled mother, Selia. Selia is a powerful witch and claims she can help unlock the magic of the Kindred—if the visitors agree to her terms. When Jonas arrives from Kraeshia, he is shocked to find that his rebel army now includes his sworn enemies. Along with Nic, Felix, and the mysteriously resurrected Ashur, the contentious group agrees to cast aside old grudges—for now—and united against their common enemy: Amara.
Meanwhile, bearing the child of a Watcher and feared by all, Princess Lucia travels across Mytica to find her family. But time is running out. The impending storm signals the dark prophecy Timotheus warned her about. Her fate is written, and it includes none other than the rebel Jonas. When their paths collied, Jonas and Lucia must decide between blindly following their destiny or fighting for their own free will.
The battle for power culminates at the Paelsian palace, where Amara resides. Rain pours. Blood spills. And soon all will discover that the darkest magic comes at an even darker price."
Initial thoughts:
I had to take a step back from this book after finishing because my mind was left reeeeeeeling. Cait from A Page with a View couldn't have said it better "This story in a nutshell: lots of people are either killed, back from the dead, or in the process of dying." I cannot with how many people die, but don’t die, but kinda are dying. Gaius and his mother are so SUSPECT. Cleo and Magnus are still trying to figure out their relationship and ohmygods I love love love them so much. Their struggles to get past their previous feelings of "you are/were my enemy" make their ship all the more believable and real.
(FANGIRL MOMENT: I live for every single second of their steamy romance. Magnus is my favorite character in this whole series and Cleo is my second favorite, so how could this ship not be my ultimate OTP in this series! I can never ever get enough of them together!)
Anyways, let us not forget about Jonas. At first I thought he was just the rebel boy that will always just be there? Looks like I was wrong! Oh does he have a purpose now and I’m so excited to see what come of this new development.
There is so much we still do not understand about the magic in this world. The magic system is ever changing and growing and we keep finding out new things, I can't even fathom what will come of this new magic we discover in this book.
The plot was probably the only thing I was not 100% in love with. I liked it no doubt. I like where things are going, the pacing of this story, and how this book was NO sequel slump! I just felt as though not much really occurred here. This book felt more like a conglomeration of a bunch of reveals, which may be why this book is so satisfying because we finally get to know more things! Still, that step back I took to think about the story made me realize that literally no time passed and nothing actually happened until the very end. All our babies just met up in one single place and then it was an extremely suspenseful/steamy/testosterone-filled rollercoaster of a waiting game until that soul shattering ending.
I did not expect a single aspect of that aforementioned ending. SUCH A RUSH! Morgan Rhodes is queen of cliffhangers right now. Each of the books in this series has a cliffhanger and the end of Crystal Storm is the worst of all for me. My heart was left in pieces after that ending, I heard literal glass shattering after turning the last page of this book because I just can't take what happened. Like. WHAT. NO. I need the next book.
Plot:
Let me start with the good stuff. NO sequel slump! Good pacing with slow drawn out moments coinciding with to fast paced, heart racing scenes. Let’s not forget Rhodes ability to just throw in a murder or death here and there without a blink of an eye. NO ONE IS EVER SAFE. Also her ability to bring back people from the dead with the most ludicrous yet highly believable reasons as to why they have yet to die just makes me laugh sometimes. Like… how even have you managed to survive… until now?!
The plot was not necessarily the focus of this book. At first it felt like a ton happened, but looking back not much actually did. This book was more of reveal after reveal after reveal! Honestly that is why I liked it so much even though this book spanned maybe only a few weeks in Mytica within the 400+ pages. Essentially all the many many many characters had reason to be in Paelsia, then it was a waiting game until something crazy happened.
There was so much suspense! We barely get to spend any time in any specific POV, which can be seen as detrimental to the story, but for me I didn’t mind because it kept the suspense up the whole time. Every time it switched I’d think, “AH I need to get back to their POV, I need to know what happens to them next!?” Then I’d get involved in the next character’s POV and it would happen all over again.
In addition to suspense we had STEAMINESS. Steamy angst between Magnus and Cleo and I LIVE for it. (Yes, I know I’m using all caps a lot right now, but I just have so many feeeeeeels!) Magnus and Cleo are the perfect example of a slow burn hate-to-love you kind of romance. Magnus is still learning how to not be a brute and a savage, but a loving partner. Cleo is still learning how to put faith and trust into the man who has continuously saved her life. They have trust issues and those strong early-relationship-emotions that tend to drive them apart, but love always brings them back together. FAVE OTP!
Let’s not forget about the other characters now. Ashur and Nic I’m partial to because I like male/male relationships and I want to see this one through. Lucia was actually tolerable this time, no so much a whiney little brat anymore. She grew that baby super quick though, I was utterly confused as to why that thing swelled up so quickly. Jonas still kind of feels like he’s just there as a supporting character, but he also gains a purpose in this story. I want to see Jonas and Lucia’s POV through now too when I used to now really care about them.
We have learned so much, BUT we now have even more questions. Especially with that ending. THAT ENDING. So much happened in so little pages. My mind couldn’t keep up and my heart was breaking a little more with every single word. Literally, though, the whole time I kept thinking… BUT WHERE IS MAGNUS. And then and then and then that whole thing went down and now I’m just MIND BLOWN. I’m so freakishly excited for Cleo and what will become of her in the book to come.
I CAN’T BELIEVE I HAVE TO WAIT A YEAR. A WHOLE YEAR?! FOR THE LAST BOOK. Also, why does it have to be the last book? I do not want this series to end… Like ever.
Characters:
CLEO is my all time goddess. She is a fighter and by god she better be a winner by the end of this series. I have so many emotions invested in this girl. I love her so much right now and I’m extremely intrigued as to how she will proceed given the developments at the end of Crystal Storm.
MAGNUS my poor poor baby. I worry so much about you. ALL THE TIME. Does he ever get a break? NO. He is learning. He is trying to figure out who he is and who the person he wants to be is. He is GOOD goddammit and I just want him to be okay. Okay and married to Cleo forever. Gosh I ship Magneo so much.
GAIUS is SUSPECT. He seems to have a freakish change of heart, but he’s so good at deceiving that I can’t tell what he’s really thinking. Need a Gaius POV for a second so I can figure out what he’s thinking.
GAIUS’S MOM is EXTRA SUSPECT. The whole time. It always felt like something was off about her.
JONAS has yet to really grow out of who he was in previous books. I want more development for him. He’s starting to become kind of stagnant.
LUCIA she made her bed and now she has to lie in it. She is not as bad as she was in the early books which I can appreciate. I think she may start to grow on me especially if her baby turns out to be good and cute.
FELIX is HILARIOUS. He’s like my Leo Valdez in this series.
AMARA just needs to figure herself out. I can see her going mad in the next book. Mad with disappointment in herself and all she has done only to fail. I expect her to fail anyways, don’t know 100% yet if she has. Still, she just needs to stop being such an entitled b*tch.
Overall:
My heart cannot take that there is only one book left. It also cannot take that said book is MONTHS away from being in my hands. I needed it like weeks ago. UGH. I have so much love for the Falling Kingdoms series. I think this series will remain in my top faves for a very very very long time. It's up there with Throne of Glass and PJO. I imagine the steamier it gets, the more I'll love it too, but that's just my love for Magneo calling out to Rhodes to write more romantic scenes LOL.
Cover Wrap for Immortal Reign!
