The Fall

I read The Fall prior to reading Of Blood and Fire in The Bound and Broken series. It was a great introduction to the world of Epheria and I would recommend the same read order, though the novella itself will advise that you need not read it before Of Blood and Fire and can certainly read it after.

I enjoyed the characters within and the multiple POVs revolving around the pivotal event that changed the landscape of Epheria and dived right into the next in the series eager for more.

An enjoyable ride into a world of magic, violence, betrayal, and dragons!
It was fairly easy to follow and I quickly grasped the scope of the betrayal, but I wasn't able to fully appreciate it.
Despite its short length I did enjoy myself, following the 4 separate parts amidst the chaos and the action and the new world.
Would it have been better if I read book 1 first? Maybe.
But it's not bad. It's actually quite a short, sharp, fun ride.

I guess I've gotta get on to Book 1 now.

If you liked any of those 4 things I mentioned above, then give The Fall a try.

Music Accompaniment: You Can't Kill Me - Rok Nardin

I have only heard great things about the author's debut novel and this prequel novella and while they don't feel like the exact kind of books I enjoy, I still felt compelled to give this one a try first. And I'm glad my attempt wasn't in vain.

Sitting at less than 100 pages, this novella is pretty small but it's very surprising how much of the story the author is able to tell in such few pages, without losing the essence of this series - which is very traditional epic fantasy with dragons and Mages. I'm not someone who gravitate towards these books despite loving fantasy with all my heart, mostly because I prefer more emotionally engaging fantasies written by women and/or queer authors. However, I found this very action packed right from page one style of storytelling a bit refreshing, because I haven't read something like this for a long while now. The action, the tension, the sense of loss and despair and betrayal - none of these let up right from the beginning of the story, just making us feel one thing after another, letting us sink into this very gritty world on the day it's whole foundation crumbles - it's the end of an era and the beginning of a new empire, but we are left to wonder who is on the right and was it all worth it.

I throughly enjoyed this short tale giving us the devastating truth behind the origins of this world, and I can't wait to see what the author has in store for us in the first book of the series, which is set a few centuries later. I'm definitely excited for more action and ofcourse, dragons.

It's amazing that this novella is available for free, because it feels like a must read for anyone that is a fan of epic and action packed fantasy.

The story drops you immediately in a chaotic scene and you can barely catch your breath until the very end. There is obviously not enough time to give the reader all the information (if this is the first book of the serie you read), so you have to work a bit to understand the fantasy elements.
I didn't think this was too difficult because it (magic with elements, dragons and bonding, ...) felt familiar to some extend.

So although it's a very short book, Ryan Cahill succeeds in writing a story with a believable world and characters that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
I will definitely be reading the next books!

I absolutely loved this novella. Thank you to Ryan for offering this for free.

This book hooked me with the tension of the world, the magic systems, the different races of character. I can already tell this will be a favorite series for me. Waiting on my copy of Of blood and bone to arrive so I can read it immediately.

I got this as an added bonus attached to Of Blood and Fire's audiobook, so naturally I had to continue right into it. 

I think something this novella does really well is the perspectives. In this sense, it's giving you the lives of four individuals during the fall of the dragon order. Therefore, it's not 100 pages of lore and world building dump, it's actually showing you through the eyes of people there (and maybe a face or two we already know?). In such a short span of time the author packs such a heavy punch. The amount of heart in this one is crazy for it's size. It also does a very good job of distancing itself from the others of its kind that people relate it to. This one to me read as it's own entity entirely. 

If I had one gripe it would be that with it being short, I still didn't feel like this told one single concise story. I'm still not entirely sure what happened to the order, nor do I really know what caused its fall, nor do I really further understand the villain yet. But there is another novella incoming that I saw, so perhaps that'll continue on the background lore. 

Worth your time, effort, or money to read or listen! The audio quality is great! 

A fast, action filled novella that efficiently establishes why the four POV characters are involved in this event. Alvira, Kallinvar, Coren, and Eltoar - all four of them have different reason and motivation to participate in the war.
I was able to feel invested in this relatively short stories about justice, loyalty, and freedom.
Magic system is also very intriguing and I cannot wait to learn more about it.

Best novella I've ever read. It was nice finally understanding what was going on in the prequel of book 1. I think you could easily ready this first and it not sacrifice your enjoyment of it at all.

It was also nice seeing Cahill really show the interesting magic of his world. There was a cool spell that I thought was really unique.

It's about 100 pages of a battle scene with every 20-30 pages being a new pov showing the different perspectives of what's going on. It's not enough pages to truly enjoy these characters but I think Cahill did good enough for what it is, especially since some of these characters will make an appearance later on.

Highly recommend this series and I've heard it only gets better from here