Review: Fallenwood - Leslie Soule

Genre: Fantasy/paranormal

Pages: 199, ebook

Published: March 3rd 2011

Review by Lis

Fallenwood—a land where magic is the life force, dragons are sages, and wizards good and evil battle for supremacy. When 16-year-old Ash is thrust into the middle of Fallenwood’s power struggles, she is also forced to face her own inner battles. Life on Earth was hard enough on Ash, who is locked in grief for her stepfather. Now, the fate of Fallenwood rests on her shoulders. She must destroy the Great Crystal—the catalyst for all the land’s magic. As the kingdoms prepare for war, Ash must look inside to find the power to save the world, and herself.

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Do you ever have that feeling like you don’t belong? You go through the routines, but nothing really makes sense. You question why it is you do what you do, but you don’t know why you do it. You just go on and on and one until one day you’ve had enough. That one day you just know something has to change and something has to be done because enough is enough! It’s a bit like that for Ashley Kensington. For her it gets harder and harder to get out of bed each day and face the world. She goes through her routines, goes to her dead end job day after day. Then one day the ashes of her stepfather are spread, it all becomes enough and Ashley runs into the woods to end it only to end up in Fallenwood a magical world where Ashley has a role to play and is part of a legacy.

This is certainly an interesting book. It’s not often that you meet a character who is as depressed as Ashley and who has such a big role to play, but I loved that she doesn’t give up. She struggles, yes, and she fights her depression, but with the guidance of the wizard Will she doesn’t give up.

The story of Fallenwood is fast paced. It’s not hard to keep up but a lot of things happen. At times it left me going: “huh?!” and then: “ohhhh right got it!”

There are also a lot of characters in this book. It’s almost like a high fantasy book in that regard. You have to keep track of your characters and their part in the story. From wizards to locked-up princes to shifting cats to other humans Fallenwood has it all. I would think that it’s not easy writing a story with such a big plot and such a cast of characters and at points you could see that the narrative wasn’t quite up to par. Luckily it’s nothing major and you can overlook it. This is the first book I’ve read by this author, but I think that a little practice will make perfect.

There is also a lot of world building in this story, which you would have to if you switch from good ole earth to a magical mystical one and I found that it was done just right. The author gives you enough to get a clear view of Fallenwood but doesn’t do so that it’s intrusive.

Fallenwood was not an easy book to review. While I liked it, I’ve been in a book slump and am very critical of the books I read and get easily bored (something I hope to overcome very soon). As a result this was not a book that suited my mood, especially with Ashley fighting depression. At the same time I could really appreciate the time and effort that went into this book and I can see why people would really like this book. So invite you to pick it up and find out for yourself! If you like a good fantasy book with a wide cast of characters and flawed character that are not your typical run of the mill cast of characters and an epic happenings then Fallenwood is definitely for you!