Frozen Tides: Falling Kingdoms, Book 4

Written by Morgan Rhodes

Razorbill

978-1-59514-707-3

413 pp.

Ages 12+

December 2015

Forget everything you’ve read in Books 1 through 3 of Morgan Rhodes’ Falling Kingdoms series (Falling Kingdoms, 2012; Rebel Spring, 2013; Gathering Darkness, 2014) because Frozen Tides demonstrates that not everything is as it appears.  From the frozen, seemingly desolate landscape of Limeros to the projected demure contenances of Lucia and Amara (hah!), Morgan Rhodes takes the reader into worlds that seem ever-changing in spirit, motive and magic.  (And if you haven’t been fortunate enough to read the first three books, stop reading this review posthaste, and read Books 1-3 promptly.  This is one series that demands to be read from the beginning and in order.  You have been advised.)

When last we visited the land of Mytica, Princess Cleo–and just about everyone else too–was attempting to locate and reawaken the four crystals of the Kindred: amber for fire magic; moonstone for air; aquamarine for water; and obsidian for earth.  But the four Kindred have been found and ended up in different hands: Amara, daughter of Emperor Cortas of the Kraeshian Empire, has the aquamarine; Jonas, Paelsian rebel, has the obsidian; Felix, former ally of Jonas but assassin for King Gaius, has the moonstone; and Lucia, the budding sorceress who was brought up as King Gaius’ daughter and Magnus’ sister, has the amber.  But the possession of the Kindred is as fluid as the plot of Frozen Tides.

Lucia, betrayed by Alexis who was manipulated by Watcher Melenia, has released the fire god, Kyan, from his prison in the amber, and the two are on a pilgrimage to learn more about Lucia’s true family and to find a portal into the Sanctuary so that Kyan might assassinate Timotheus, the remaining Watcher, for imprisoning him.

Magnus, having disobeyed his father and saved Cleo from death, demands she and her friend Nic go into exile while he returns to his birthplace of Limeros and attempts to find Lucia and ultimately to claim the throne for himself. Cleo, with whom Magnus had shown uncharacteristic intimacy in words and actions, refuses, accompanying him to Limeros with Nic in tow.  Nic, still reeling from the murder of Prince Ashur, takes every opportunity to badmouth Magnus to Cleo who continues to need to remind herself how much she should hate Magnus and consider him her enemy.

Meanwhile, Felix has convinced himself he is a reprehensible young man and returns to the employ of King Gaius, giving up the moonstone and accompanying the King to Kraeshia to stem the occupation of Mytica by the Emperor and instead enter into a partnership. There Felix becomes involved with Amara who has her own agenda.

And, if that isn’t plot enough for you, Jonas who almost died while retrieving a Kindred is now focused on assassinating King Gaius, with fellow rebel Lysandra, his secret love-interest, and witch Olivia accompanying him.

There is so much pain and calamity overriding a frisson of romance, as character after character strives to possess the Kindred and the magic within while attempting to stem the tide of emotions that struggle to engulf them.  Felix sees himself as a lost cause yet will take the trouble to save a kitten.  Cleo keeps reminding herself that Magnus is her enemy and has destroyed her family and Auranian life, but continues to be drawn to him and what he truly is, not as he believes he is i.e., the evil son of the King of Blood.  And Lucia, wielding so much pain and power, seems willing to take down everyone and everything in her wake, but is appalled by Kyan’s ravages of land and people.  The tides of emotions and actions swell and recede in all of Morgan Rhodes’ characters and their inability to see these changes make them all the more poignant.

"You are in so deep you don’t even know you’re drowning," (pg. 189) Lucia is told by Timotheus who recognizes the extent of her pain better than she does.

You are filled with so much anger and pain and grief.  Yet instead of letting those emotions run through you and make you stronger, you choose to unleash them on the rest of the world so that others might feel your pain as well. (pg. 187)

As paradoxical as frozen tides, as a phenomenon, may be, so too are Morgan Rhodes’ characters who are both fragile and powerful.  But it is this irreconciliability that propels the plot of Frozen Tides.  And though I may be able to share the details of the plot of Frozen Tides with you, I can't come close to sharing the depth of Morgan Rhodes' writing.  Morgan Rhodes doesn't just tell a story.  She immerses the reader in worlds so rich in passions–good and ugly–that you begin to wonder how valid your own emotions and allegiances can be.  How can you hope for happiness for Cleo and Magnus when Magnus is the son of the King of Blood and seems to be following in his father's evil tread? What of Jonas and Cleo?  Should I wish for that sweetness again? And is there more to Lysandra and Lucia than previously revealed?  I don’t doubt that Morgan Rhodes knows exactly where she is taking readers as she plans to unleash those frozen tides of emotions and conflicts and take us to new worlds in Book 5 of her Falling Kingdoms series, set for a 2016 release date. In the mean while, read Frozen Tides very slowly, relishing every detail and nuance of plot, setting and character that make Morgan Rhodes' writing so prodigious.

Gathering Darkness: Falling Kingdoms, Book 3

by Morgan Rhodes

Razorbill

978-1-59514-705-9

432 pp.

Ages 12+

For release December 9, 2014

(1) Map of Mytica

I am so glad that Falling Kingdoms is not a trilogy, for three books would not be sufficient to house the complexity of the relationships within and between the three kingdoms of Mytica–Auranos, Limeros and Paelsia– and their people, given the richness and depth that Morgan Rhodes has woven into the plot.

When Falling Kingdoms, Book 1 (Razorbill, 2012) ended, King Gaius of Limeros had violently and successfully seized the castle and throne of Auranos, with some magical help from his daughter Lucia who is a powerful, albeit novice, sorceress.  Princess Cleiona, the only remaining Auranian royal, is determined to regain her family's rightful place, perhaps with the help of Jonas Agallon, the rebel who wants to take down the King of Blood.

But, in the second book of the series, Rebel Spring, (Razorbill, 2013), the rebels and Cleo have accomplished seemingly little to halt King Gaius’s plans.  Gaius is having a road constructed to link the three kingdoms of Mytica, through the Wildlands and Forbidden Mountains, destroying much of Paelsia while enslaving its people.  He has also arranged for the marriage of his son, Magnus, to Cleiona, which takes place regardless of an attack arranged by Cleo and Jonas to prevent it.

Now Gathering Darkness returns the story to Auranos where King Gaius continues to rule with fear, hopeful of securing the Kindred, the four crystals that hold the elemental magic: amber for fire, moonstone for air, aquamarine for water, and obsidian for earth.  But the Kindred is a very desirable commodity, and not everyone understands its significance or danger.

In addition to Magnus and Cleo, who have returned from their wedding tour, more perplexed about their feelings for each other, there are others who have appeared in Auranos whose motives are probably linked to securing the Kindred for themselves.  Alexius, the immortal Watcher from Sanctuary who had discovered Lucia’s power as a sorceress, has been banished to the mortal realm, ostensibly to be with Lucia, but claiming the Kindred must be returned to Sanctuary to help save the world from destruction.  And Prince Ashur and his sister Princess Amara from the far-off kingdom of Kraeshia have maneuvered themselves into honoured guests of King Gaius, easily manipulating everyone to their wishes, inevitably to garner the Kindred for their father, Emperor Cortas.

It is essentially a race to find the Kindred.  Many are willing to have others find the crystals and then steal them, but Cleo is more proactive, becoming a cherished friend to Lucia, who is frightened by her erratic powers and helping her, with Alexius’ guidance, to focus her magic, hopefully to locate and claim the Kindred.  And, through a secret messenger within the castle, Cleo is able to share this information with Jonas.

Meanwhile, Jonas has been joined by another rebel, the charismatic Felix, and is determined to save Lysandra and the other rebels who are being held in the King's dungeons and awaiting execution.  But what are Felix’s motivations?  Even Jonas’ motives are less transparent, especially as he is confused by his feelings for Cleo and Lysandra.

As in the earlier books in the series, Gathering Darkness is both plot- and character-driven, relentless in its ability to startle, to gratify, and to crush, engulfing the reader in more emotions than the heart can normally endure within a scant 432 pages.  The elemental disasters–fire, tornado, earthquake–are nothing compared to the cataclysmic breaches in the essential relationships within Gathering Darkness: between Magnus and Cleo, Cleo and Jonas, Jonas and Lysandra, Nick and Ashur, Amara and Ashur, Felix and Jonas, Lucia and Alexius, and everyone in between.

Morgan Rhodes wastes neither words nor characters, definitively giving everything and everyone substance.  The words she gives her characters are prophetic and powerful.  For example, Felix tells Jonas that,

“There are no guarantees in this life, only strong possibilities.” (pg.16) 

whereas Cleo reassures Lucia to

“believe in things other people think are impossible, and it makes you strong enough to face whatever comes next.” (pg. 76)

Forgive me for not sharing the gut-wrenching words of spellbound lovers or cutting comments by the wicked. Those are all there too. But, after the intense read that is Gathering Darkness (and that darkness is certainly gathering), I need to hold onto the crystals of tenderness that Morgan Rhodes embeds, helping us to see that it’s not all darkness. In fact, I must thank her for seven simple words on page 397 that carried me through the wickedness revealed in the last chapter and forward to await the next Falling Kingdoms book.  Thank you, Morgan Rhodes, for that gift and for taking Gathering Darkness into new realms of wickedly magical splendour.

(1) Map of Mytica: Retrieved from http://www.fallingkingdoms.com/extras.html on January 16, 2014.

Rebel Spring

by Morgan Rhodes

A Falling Kingdoms Book, Book 2

Razorbill

978-1-59514-593-2

400 pp.

Ages 12+

December, 2013

Warning: 

If you have not read Falling Kingdoms, the first book in this series, don't deny yourself that pleasure and the full story needed to appreciate Rebel Spring better. Moreover, some details in my review of Rebel Spring will undoubtedly be spoilers to your reading of Falling Kingdoms. So, stop, read Falling Kingdoms, then come back and read this review before your own reading of Rebel Spring. But not any sooner.

Morgan Rhodes (author of Falling Kingdoms and Rebel Spring) and Maureen Fergus (author of A Gypsy King and A Fool's Errand) must have both attended the elevate-your-readers-with-staggering-plots-but-knock-them-down-with-shocking-endings school of writing (though I suspect both have inherent talent that schooling could not supplant). Here I had been so smug about finishing Falling Kingdoms (reviewing it here just three days ago) knowing that Rebel Spring was patiently waiting on my desk to be read and appease me of any unsettled feelings I had with its prequel's startling ending. Yeah, right. More rich story lines, another unforeseen ending.

With King Corvin and Chief Basilius now dead, King Gaius has taken over the golden palace in Auranos as his primary residence and the base for ruling over the reunited kingdom of Mytica (once Auranos, Paelsia, and Limeros). To further his domination over the land and his subjects, Gaius is publicly executing captured rebels and making plans to build a road from the temple of Cleiona in Auranos, through the Wildlands into Paelsia, through the Forbidden Mountains and finally across Limeros to end at the temple of their goddess Valoria. Unbeknownst to most, however, King Gaius is attacking Paelsian villages, murdering many and enslaving the hardier men to work on the road. Paelsian teens Lysandra and her brother Gregor witness such an attack on their own village. Lysandra escapes and joins Jonas Agallon and Brion Radenos's rebel group, determined to make things right. Though Brion is smitten with Lysandra, Jonas has issues with her passionate, demanding nature.

To further his plans, King Gaius announces the betrothal of his son, Magnus, to the true heir to the Auranian throne, Princess Cleiona. But Jonas kidnaps Cleiona, hoping to force the King's hand; instead Cleiona and Jonas hatch a plan for a rebel attack at her scheduled wedding to Magnus.

Surprisingly, the true object of Magnus' affection, his "sister" Lucia, has been unconscious since the attack on the palace in Falling Kingdoms. In this state, she occasionally enters a dreamscape where she meets with Alexius, the Watcher, and learns more about the magic and the role she will play in recovering it. Unlike his wife, King Gaius sees Lucia as the great sorceress she is prophesized to be and now, with the covert intervention and advice of the powerful Watcher elder Melenia, Gaius anticipates ruling well beyond the borders of Mytica.

These are just a few of the subplots that diverge and coalesce into richer roads leading to the finding of the Kindred, the source of the four elements of magic. With different parties seeking its power and few knowing the details of its provenance and dangers, the Kindred is both a charm and an atrocity, and how its nature will manifest itself remains in Morgan Rhodes' pen. In the meanwhile, her many characters, good and evil and in-between, carry the story as their motivations and passions change with new knowledge and experiences (OK, not King Gaius–he’s just evil). As the three kingdoms transform into a Mytica destined to be united by a road, so do the characters transform Rebel Spring from “just” a sequel to Falling Kingdoms into a book with its own bounty.

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The title and cover of Book 3 in the Falling Kingdom series have yet to be revealed although its release has been scheduled for December 9, 2014.  The Falling Kingdoms' Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/FallingKingdoms) by Morgan Rhodes hints that the title, cover and blurb will be released in February.