Fate of the Fallen

This was another one of my series-sampling audio listens, to see if I might want to pursue it in print someday.

Audio Narration
The narrator is Nick Podehl. My initial reaction was “ugh” because he was so melodramatic. I usually don’t enjoy the more melodramatic narrators. However, once I got a little further into the story and things took an unexpected turn, I decided he worked pretty well for the tone of the story. There’s a lot of humor in it and he did well with that, and he also did well with distinguishing the different characters. My biggest complaint through the end was his voicing of female characters. He’s one of those narrators who tries too hard when voicing the opposite sex, instead of just speaking a little softer show more (for men voicing women) or deeper (for women voicing men). The women all came cross as fake-girl-pouty, fake-girl-flirty, or fake-girl-overly-timid. The pouty/flirty/timid did fit in some cases, but I thought it was overdone and it sometimes distracted me. Still, it wasn’t really a horrible narration and I wouldn’t avoid another audiobook that he had narrated if it was something I otherwise wanted to listen to.

Story
Aside from the brief and interesting prologue, the main story kicks off with the feel of a very tried and true epic fantasy story. Mathias is the chosen one, the only hope the world has for survival against an as-yet-unknown enemy. The whole thing was feeling overdone and familiar, but soon after Mathias learns of this, the story took a turn that I didn’t expect at all. I did guess Mathias’ head would start talking to Aaslo because I remembered the prologue, but I didn’t guess Mathias would die in the first place.

I’d like to say I laughed my head off, but in truth I just chuckled a lot. Some of the dialogue was quite funny, and I absolutely loved the horse named Dolt. Dolt didn’t get nearly enough page time! I would have liked more of the Marquis too. The story held my interest well and I liked or was at least interested in the characters. It could have been a bit longer, really. It felt almost too short. The end isn’t a complete cliff hanger, but there are a lot of plot threads left hanging and several open questions.

I did think some of the humor was a little forced, despite making me chuckle, because Aaslo kept speaking out loud to Mathias, causing confusion for the people around him who couldn’t hear Mathias, and yet Mathias clearly responded to things Aaslo had only thought in his head, so Aaslo seemed a bit dense to not figure out he could have just replied to Mathias in his head. Although it made for some funny dialogue, it wasn’t believable and therefore pulled me out of the story. I also wondered how Mathias could see what was going on when his head was in a bag. Even though there's reason for doubt (or at least Aaslo thought so) that the voice was coming from Mathias at all, the voice did stop when Aaslo lost the bag, so the head did seem to be the source. Hopefully all of my many Mathias questions will be answered in a future book.

I plan to come back to this in print someday when the series is complete. It was pretty fun and I’d like to see where the story goes next and hopefully get more answers. show less

The Fate of the Fallen is the first in a new series from Kel Kade whose “King’s Dark Tidings” tetralogy was a bestseller. It begins with the murder of the chosen one, Mathias the Lightbane, on the very day he learns who he is and that he is fated to save the world from destruction. The great sorceress who has been tutoring and protecting him all these years asks him to take Mathias head to the king to inform him of Mathias’ death.

Along the way, Aaslo has adventures and encounters that add to the urgency. He finds possible allies and friends who will become companions on his quest. He also discovers that a common reaction to learning the person fated to save the world has died is resignation. In fact, those with the most ability show more to fight against fate are the first to resign themselves to it.

I think The Fate of the Fallen creates an excellent world complete with a cosmology that is reminscent of the ancient gods and goddesses of Olympus, though they have many more worlds to play with. I was engrossed by the story and am eager for the next book in the series. I loved the sayings Aaslo had that came from his role as a forester. There was so much to enjoy I feel bad about my one big complaint. I felt as though Kade did not trust us to understand this book was all about fate, fatalism, and free will so he kind of hit us over the head with the theme again and again. W

hen the prophet showed up toward the end, I felt irritated. Sure, there is some humor in his uselessness as a source for advice, but really, the title has Fate in it, most people assume the world is fated to end, and Aaslo, who seldom speaks, talks about fighting against fate anytime he says more than three sentences. I got it. The author wants us to know that no matter how much fate seems stacked against us, we still must resist and use our free will to change our fate. It’s good advice and I would appreciate it more if it were given with a lighter touch.

I received an ARC of The Fate of the Fallen from the publisher through Shelf Awareness

The Fate of the Fallen at Tor Books | Macmillan
Kel Kade author site

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/11/17/9781250293794/ show less

I feel bad DNF'ing this because I really, really was looking forward to reading this and was hoping to like it. Unfortunately, it failed to pull me in and I've had to force myself through the last 20-odd pages I read and I cannot make myself read any further. The writing just feels too unpolished, the characters undeveloped (and immature for their supposed ages,) and the story itself feels rushed and confused. I think it could have benefited if it had slowed down and given me any reason to care about any of the characters or anything going on, but unfortunately, I don't care about any of it. The concept is interesting at a very, very high level but that doesn't really matter much when the execution is so lacking.

I really enjoyed the way this story seems to disrupt and play with the ideas of prophecy, but it's the sharp characterization that really drew me in. I'll have to pick up the next in the series.

I really enjoyed the way this story seems to disrupt and play with the ideas of prophecy, but it's the sharp characterization that really drew me in. I'll have to pick up the next in the series.

That was actually pretty good. Good characters, good world-building, good writing. Hopefully I'll remember to keep an eye out for the second book.

It was okay?

I found the characters written terribly to be honest, I found Mathias likeable enough, I probably would have been fine with him as a main character, but in the attempt to subvert the trope of a "prophecy hero" the author had in fact made us have to deal with a character who I honestly didn't like much in the beginning. He wasn't supposed to be the hero for a reason.

Aaslo was stubborn, unlikable and honestly it didn't seem like he cared much, about anything. He acts like hes incredibly sad about Mathias's death, but honestly, he seemed more upset when his girlfriend broke up with him.
(his death happens pretty early on, not spoiling much)

I only vaguely liked one character, but the fact I forget her name doesn't say much about show more her.

I could have been able to excuse the extremely cliche plot and world building, if it had good characters, but it can't even achieve that.

This book was trying to act like it was subverting a genre, but it honestly barely broke the rules with its "twist", and tried to use that as an excuse to have extremely stereotypical characters, world building and plot. Honestly, wish I had skipped this book of the month, and instead chosen an actually subversive and interesting book. Did not like this overall. show less