Erin: Gathering Darkness (Falling Kingdoms #3) by Morgan Rhodes

Hi, Everyone!!

Here's a review of Gathering Darkness, the third book in the awesome Falling Kingdoms Series!!!

From Goodreads:

In Gathering Darkness, book three of the New York Times bestselling Falling Kingdoms series, the stakes have never been higher as three teams push forward on a race to find the Kindred, the four elemental crystals possessing ancient all-powerful magic, first:

Prince Magnus has just witnessed torture, death, and miracles during the bloody confrontation that decimated the rebel forces.  Now he must choose between family and justice as his father, the cruel King Gaius, sets out to conquer all of Mytica.  All Gaius needs now are the Kindred - the four elemental crystals that give godlike powers to their owner.  But the King of Blood is not the only one hunting for this ancient, stories magic...

-The KRAESHIANS join the hunt.  Asher and Amara, the royal siblings from the wealthy kingdom across the Silver Sea, charm and manipulate their way to the Kindred, proving to be more ruthless than perhaps even the King of Blood himself.

-The REBELS forge ahead.  Princess Cleo and vengeful Jonas lead them, slaying with sweetness, skill, and a secret that can control Lucia's overpowering magic - all so they can use the Kindred to win back their fallen kingdoms.

-The WATCHERS follow Melenia out of the Sanctuary.  They ally in the flesh with King Gaius, who vows to use Lucia's power to unveil the Kindred.

- The Only certainty in the dark time is that whoever finds the magic first will control the fate of Mytica...but fate can be fickle when magic is involved.

Erin's Thoughts:

While I wouldn't say that Falling Kingdoms is one of my favorite series (although it's very close), I really do love them.  They are very enjoyable to read and I get sucked into the book each and every time (I read Gathering Darkness in just a day!!).  The Falling Kingdom series is an epic high fantasy tale and as you well know by now, I love high fantasy!!

Gathering Darkness continues where Rebel Spring left off. It follows the same format as the previous two books - the story switches amongst the four different point-of-views: Cleo, Magnus, Jonas, and Lucia.  There are a few other small characters that get their chapters, but these are the main storylines.  In my opinion, I was most intrigued by Cleo and Magnus and I tended to enjoy their sections their most, though not to say that the other point-of-views weren't interesting.

I'm not going to say too much because honestly, there's not much I can say without totally giving the story away, but if you enjoyed the first two books, I'm sure you'll love Gathering Darkness! I feel like these books flow so smoothly that they could probably be combined into one giant monster book and it would read really well.

*** SPOILER ALERT***

The only thing that bothered me just a little bit was that the romance between Cleo and Jonas that was present during Rebel Spring kind of died out.  At the end of Rebel Spring, I was super conflicted because there was definitely a romance between Cleo and Jonas, but there was also a hint of a romance with Cleo and Magnus -- and since I really loved them both, I was struggling to choose who to root for! Luckily, this sorted itself out during Gathering Darkness.  Magnus and Cleo's relationship really developed, which I absolutely loved!! Hate-to-love tropes are my favorite!! And Jonas and Lysandra's relationship took another step forward.  While I do love the Magnus and Cleo are getting the feels for each other, I didn't like Jonas and Lysandra that much.  They're okay, but nothing special, in my opinion.  But apart from that, I felt like Cleo and Jonas kind of fizzled out -- sort of like it went from a ten to a zero, if we were to rate it on a scale.  Rebel Springs totally had Cleo and Jonas falling for each other, so it bugged me a little that suddenly Cleo and Jonas each had other love interests pop up (I love Magnus, but Lysandra seemed kind of random).  Anyways, I feel like it should have been more gradual.  Or more like there should have been a bit more resolution with Jonas and Cleo -- maybe each of them realizing their relationship would never work and they break apart -- something like that.  Of course, there are still three more books to look forward to and a lot can change, so we'll just have wait and see! :)

But despite my complaining, this wasn't a huge deal for me -- just one of the things that I noticed when I was reading :D  I still loved the book!

***END OF SPOILER ALERT***

Overall Rating:

This series is awesome and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading epic fantasy!! And also, Falling Kingdoms is going to be six books long, so there is a lot to look forward to as well!!! :D

Erin @The Romance Bookie :)