Book Review: Kalona's Fall by P.C. and Kristen Cast

Wednesday, July 23, 2014
I love reading. Books are amazing. They are a form of escapism, yes, but they are also inspiration, joy, and... well. Goodness. I think in some ways I have used my appetite for reading to define parts of my personality, so it made sense for me to review some of what I read! Here we go...


Title: Kalona's Fall
Authors: P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast
Series: Part of the House of Night Novellas series (Book Four), which I believe are stories that come from the original House of Night series.
Publication Date: Due to be released by Hachette in August, but the Kindle edition will be available July 29th I believe.

Synopsis: "From warrior and lover to enemy and betrayer, the terrible secrets of Kalona's past are revealed...He was laughing with her as he spread his wings and lifted her from the ground, twirling her around. Nyx gasped and clutched his neck. Kalona tightened his arms around her.
'Trust me, Goddess. I would never let you fall.'
From the Sun and from the Moon, two winged brothers are born: golden Erebus, playmate and friend, and mysterious Kalona, warrior and lover, companions of the Goddess Nyx.
From the first, Nyx loves them both deeply, but differently. With Erebus, she can talk and laugh and dance, and take joy in the games he plays amount the humans of the Earth. With Kalona, the fire in her body burns bright, and she can rest in the solace of his strength and protection. But for Kalona, Nyx's nights are not enough. Every second he is not with her he is filled with doubt and longing, and every time he fails to please her, he cannot forgive himself. Ruled by anger and jealousy of his brother, and consumed by his love for his Goddess, Kalona seeks the power to prove his worth, and to claim once and for all that Nyx eternally belongs to him."


My thoughts: Let me just state that I haven't read any other books by P.C. and Kristen Cast, so I have very little experience with the House of Night books, and as this is a novella that stems off from that series, I am rather inexperienced and confused as to how this story fits in to everything else. Having said that, though, I think it still makes sense as a standalone novella, even if I'm probably missing some glaring points.

I'm afraid I did not like this book at all. It clocks in at 150 pages - novella size - but I still felt it a bit of a struggle to get through. The premise was very interesting, particularly the Casts' creation of the world and the departure of the Gods and Goddesses - I found all of that fascinating. Unfortunately that part ended quite swiftly and then I found myself saddled with the character of Kalona, who I found extremely one-dimensional. He survives on his obsession with Nyx, and his jealousy of not just his brother Erebus, but of anything that comes into contact with Nyx.
The writing I found to be a little stilted at times, and boring at others. I didn't really care about what happened to Kalona, because he hadn't proven to me that he was a decent individual in the first place. He was born and then BAM he was jealous of everything. I am sure if I knew how this story fit into the rest of the series I would appreciate what was happening a little more, but during my reading of this book I just felt frustrated and bored.


I received and unsolicited copy of this book from Hachette.

You would like this book if: you like the House of Night books, I think.

Rating:  4/10

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2 comments:

  1. Thanks for stopping by my review :D We agree on so many points!!

    Perhaps the novellas are really written for die-hard fans of the series and aren't really of much use to anyone else ....

    This was my favourite part of your awesome review: "He was born and then BAM he was jealous of everything." So0o0o true!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am so glad that we had similar experiences - I was a bit worried that I was just going to insult an entire fan base (I think I probably did anyway XD), but yay solidarity!!

      Hahaha but seriouslyyyy why does he hate everything on sight! XD

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