Fate of the Fallen, Kel Kade – Book Review

Hello Humans! What happens when prophecies get messed up? When the wrong person ends up tackling the foretold task? Kel Kade explores this question in her book Fate of the Fallen which came out in mid-December (I’m catching up). I’m a sucker for an unlikely hero so I thought I’d give this book a try!

Goodreads Summary:

The Shroud of Prophecy tests fate to discover what happens when the path of good and right, the triumph of light over darkness, the only path to salvation… fails.

Everyone loves Mathias. So naturally, when he discovers it’s his destiny to save the world, he dives in head first, pulling his best friend Aaslo along for the ride.

Mathias is thrilled for the adventure! There’s nothing better than a road beneath his feet and adventure in the air. Aaslo, on the other hand, has never cared for the world beyond the borders of his sleepy village and would be much happier alone and in the woods. But, someone has to keep the Chosen One’s head on his shoulders and his feet on the ground.

It turns out saving the world isn’t as easy, or exciting, as it sounds in the stories. Mathias is more than willing to place his life on the line, but Aaslo would love nothing more than to forget about all the talk of arcane bloodlines and magical fae creatures. When the going gets rough, folks start to believe their only chance for survival is to surrender to the forces of evil, which isn’t how the stories go. At all. To make matters worse Aaslo is beginning to fear that he may have lost his mind…

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This book ought to have been a great read for me. It had a forester, it had a sassy talking head, magic, arcane bloodlines and on top of that it wasn’t too long- an automatic win right?

Wrong.

I’m sorry to say this book just wasn’t for me, I’m sure there are those who will thoroughly enjoy this book but I am not one of them. I think this book has some strong ideas and concepts within the story but the execution somehow fell flat for me.

I was interested in hearing more about Aaslo’s life as a forester, he’s set up as a member of this group of revered people who keep the forest happy and healthy and everyone respects them, but I didn’t feel as though we got to see much of that life, I was looking to find out more about how you keep a forest, what is a normal day in Aaslo’s life, how many foresters are there? It made it feel somewhat pointless to set up the idea of foresters if as a reader you don’t get to find out more about them?

I also didn’t feel like this book had the best female characters, certainly, in the beginning, I found myself desperately seeking a woman who’s one goal was not to either get married or to get her rocks off! It did improve later with the addition of some female sorceresses and powerful beings, but for the most part I felt like this was a very male-dominated narrative. It made this book feel outdated in a way I wouldn’t have expected.

That being said, some of the more incidental side characters, particularly two young thieves, were a lot of fun, and I think the moments that involve large groups of people were the best moments in the book.

Put simply, I didn’t care enough about the characters or the plot (and didn’t have enough of a grasp of the setting) to get into this book, it felt like hard work reading through to the end and what should have been a quick fun read felt more like a marathon. I think, had I connected more to Aaslo as a character it would have been better, but I couldn’t get a handle on what he was like, other than ‘not as good as Matthias’ which isn’t a personality.

I loved the idea of this book, and I think there are some elements that are interesting, but the experience of reading was not an enjoyable one, and this isn’t a series I am likely to look at in the future.

My rating: 2/5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Fate of the Fallen is Available Now

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What say you? Have you read anything like this before? Let me know in the comments below!

J