Throne of the Fallen

Let me start with the tropes for all those curious... 😉

• "Touch her & you die"
• Only one bed
• Forced proximity
• Fake relationship (very, very brief)
• Found Family (ehh.. kinda?)

This was read for my bookclub. It started off strong with going to society balls and all the like. Also, pretending to be very human. It was good until it wasn't.

Characters

Envy

I really liked Envy. I don't typically enjoy jealous folks, but I thought he was jealous in a classy way? It's weird to describe haha. He had a pretty strong motive to help his court, but kept finding himself led astray by Camilla. A lot was at stake here. It just didn't make sense to me that he was 'so focused' on his court and would do anything to get it right. Literally this man thought about it non-stop. But was wasting time with Camilla when we had so much to do. He had so much on his shoulders, and I wish Camilla had a better part in this to play, but it felt like she was just there until the very end. He was vain and had a rule to protect his heart. To sum up his personality I'll say annoyed lol. He was always annoyed and in a rush. At the end of the book I felt like I didn't even recognize his character. The wrap up was not good for him or Camilla.

Camilla

Camilla, Camilla, Camilla. I wanted to like her so much, but I don't. I get really tired of women in these fantasy novels being "so gorgeous, but also plain". I liked that she had her own talent. She was a painter and loved art. She told Vexley to shove it. She was so determined in the beginning, but it just started falling flat. I know authors think they're doing something big when they make the FMC stand-up or talk back to the MMC, but we've got to give these women more. Sure she did, but that's it. In dangerous situations, she was constantly looking for Envy to find her and get her out of it. She just felt so so flat. She had silver eyes and silver hair, but nobody was questioning if she was really human except when Envy and his crew showed up? That is a huge main character energy right there as someone that watches anime. Then no one could figure out her truths? You're telling me this is the first time we've seen this? It's just not giving at all. Also, EVERY MAN wanted Camilla. Every single man they approached was beyond interested in her. This is so overplayed and boring. I hate that mess.

A big gripe of mine is her pretending to be human. This is sooo boring. We already have so many books of human women getting mixed up with the otherworldy. I'd love to read a fantasy book where we are the demons or the fae themselves. She wanted to be bad, so bad. SO be it! I'm reading fantasy to escape my own boring reality, and always being human is tired. It's worn out. When the truth did come, she was a whole new person. With no background in it or any formal training? But she's better at running a court than her brother that has lived in Faerie for his whole life? Please explain this to me? She stopped being human, but it still took forever for her to embrace herself. She was barely doing anything at that. Still being rescued, but everyone thinking she's this bad b*tch. Emilia wasn't giving either. We need better women in these stories. Overall I'm not impressed at all.

Wrath & the other Sin Bros.

I loved the brothers the most! They were the reason I kept reading this story. I love how big and messy and nosy they all were. Visiting them and each of their circle's was my favorite! Sloth and Gluttony have my heart lol.

Humans

They were pretty present in the beginning of the book, but became less so after a while. I hated seeing them tortured in the later half of the book. It was pretty gruesome. The Humans are uptight and very prude as to be expected. Vexley was a pest to say the least.

Fae (Seelie & Unseelie)

We don't really see any Seelie in this book. The focus is mainly on the Unseelie and their wonderful ruler, Lennox. This is a twisted court. I wish I could say they were better since they loved the moon, but no they were an awful crew. The visit to the court and torturing the humans was not my cup of tea.

Vampires

They didn't come to play. They reveled on their island and I loved it. Alexie was our only bisexual (or pansexual), and I love him for that. I don't know if Blade's name is a mention to the old movies about Blade the vampire hunter, but I cackled at that.

Plot

I liked the plot. I felt like the plot was def. there, and seemed really fun. I like the idea of figuring out riddles and playing a game. The last book I read that had a game was such a fun mystery to follow along with. It was overshadowed by the 'romance'. Really the romance wasn't there. It was just tension and sex and didn't really feel like a fantasy novel. There was a real connection for romance between Envy and Camilla. I feel like they had mutual attraction, but I was struggling to see where the love or romance came from. They both had on masks the entire time.. and suddenly they're engaged at the end. It was baffling. So out of character for him. You would have thought with his mindset he would wait more than a few months. See if this is what he actually wants. It's just too weird. It was a wrap-up done poorly.

World & Magic & Sex & Everything Thing Else

There were a lot of species and creatures in this book. We got to see glimpses of them. The Vampires and the Unseelie were main stars in this book. I did like the descriptions of the world. That was very well done and I felt like I was touring their homes myself.

We get that you can fast travel in these worlds and make clothes appear. It's magic. I got it. Please find a better way to describe this than 'magicked'. I felt like I kept seeing this over and over and over. It was exhausting, and very boring. Sad that we didn't get to see Envy's wings more.

The sex. What to say. No real queer representation. I saw someone else say, "you blink and you miss it". That is very true in this case. There was two mentions of it and that was it. There wasn't one couple in this book that wasn't heteronormative. Even the new vampire king was going to get a queen. Especially in a fantasy where everyone's immortal.. It was strange that they can all sleep together, but no one wants real relationships with the same sex or any non-binary folks. I do have a suspicion that the reporter they kept mentioning along with Gluttony is male, but I'm highly doubting it.

It was very slow-burn between the main characters. There was a lot of cat and mouse. Chase and catch. The build-ups were nice, but when I was at say 65% and these characters still hadn't had sex I was over the slow-burn. The one penetration scene we had was nice. I liked the other foreplay scenes better. The memory scene was done well I will say. Camilla and Envy I think have nice chemistry for sex. There was no real chemistry for them as a couple falling in love. He liked her mind and they both loved playing games. It was really giving the "I've never met anyone like you before" trope. Camilla told him off and didn't back down. I know she isn't the first woman to tell him off. Literally the Goddess of Death bosses him around and treats him like trash, too. Overall this was not what I expected to read. I wish I could get those hours of my life back honestly.

Xaden step aside, we found the superior author to handle a broody man with a tortured past

Rebecca Yarros could NEVER lol

Envy is probs the man of my dreams

Will say that the very last chapter of their sex escapades though was not necessary with the uh... Star thing. I did indeed cringe at that moment. But otherwise a near flawless execution of two well thought out and rounded characters.

I feel like the author added so much smut to hide the fact that she has no writing talent. The plot only got interesting at the end. If you want a good romance with riddles and games, Caraval is a much better series. This book made me want to go back to reading YA novels, at least they have proper romance and not just sexual tension.