Fallen City by Adrienne Young Review

In the great walled city of Isara, political turmoil ignites a rebellion one hundred years in the making. But when a legionnaire falls in love with a Magistrate's daughter, their love will threaten the fate of the city and the will of the gods.
 

Luca Matius has one purpose—to carry on the family name, maintaining its presence in the Forum once his powerful and cruel uncle dies. But his noviceship with the city's Philosopher places him in the middle of a catastrophe that will alter the destiny of his people.
 

Maris Casperia was raised amidst the strategic maneuvers of the Citadel's inner workings, and she knows what her future holds—a lifetime of service to a corrupt city. But her years of serving as a novice to the last Priestess who possesses the stolen magic of the Old War has made her envision a different kind of future for the city. When she meets Luca, a fated chain of events is set into motion that will divinely entangle their lives.
 

As a secret comes to light and throws the city into chaos, Luca and Maris hatch a plot to create a calculated alliance that could tip the scales of power. But when an execution forces Luca to become the symbol of rebellion, he and Maris are thrown onto opposite sides of a holy war. As their fates diverge, they learn they are at the center of a story the gods are writing. And even if they can find their way back to each other, there may be nothing left.

Set on the eve of a large-scale rebellion against the Citadel in power, Adrienne Young’s Fallen City is a story of political power, control, and a slow burn in every form and meaning. Part one of a planned historical fiction x fantasy duology set in the Greco-Roman stylized walled city of Isara, Fallen City is a series about rebellion, choices, and their consequences in a land blessed or cursed by the gods. Although its slow pacing and dual POV plus dual timeline presentation is not for everyone, Young’s ambition, plotting, and writing rewards patient and intellectual readers with a story that constantly builds up on itself before reaching a dramatic to-be-continued ending. (On Goodreads, a 4.5-star rating rounded up)

Not sure if it’s just me, but when I think of Greco-Roman stories, the famous Roman tragedies are the first to come to mind. While Fallen City is not a tragedy per se, it features many narrative elements of the genre crossed with light fantasy elements. The book is shown from the dual perspectives of Maris and Luca, two young adults who cannot live without the other yet are cast into roles and positions of power as adversaries. The daughter and nephew respectively of two of the most influential leaders of conflicting political factions that make up the governing body of Isara, is it by chance or fate that the two would fall in love with each other and inadvertently trigger a widespread rebellion. Yet this story is not about the invasion itself nor is it about their forbidden romance, but is about the circumstances that led to the day/night of reckoning and the implications for tomorrow. In addition to Maris and Luca’s individual POV’s, the book also alternates between both characters’ perspectives in the present-day vs the past. In the present day, Luca has been blessed by the gods and is the public face of the New Legion looking to overthrow the long-running Magistrate tribune and the corrupt Consul leader. Across the river that divides the impoverished lower city from the wealthy Citadel, Maris is about to assume her mother’s seat as a Magistrate member on the eve of the invading rebellion opposition. Meanwhile in the past, both characters’ perspectives chronicle their first meeting and the decisions that led up to one of the most dramatic and violent times the city has seen since it was originally conquered and transformed into Isara.

While the dual-perspective and dual timeline presentation can pose a challenge for more casual readers unaccustomed to complex narratives, the dual framework perfectly suits Fallen City’s story and is an element that Young executes very well. Rather than following a traditional arc of two characters inspiring a revolution over time, Fallen City throws the reader right into the story where resources are stretched thin and tensions are at an all-time high. Although the four different perspectives can be a lot to follow and keep track of, once the story has time to develop, the multiple POV’s become a notable selling point of the book. Young’s plot is intricately developed and very well crafted, and the way plot twists are set up and foreshadowed across the different perspectives is wonderfully done. Despite half the book technically taking place in the past, there are many mysteries and unknown factors in the past that the present tense and the way the pieces slowly slot into place makes the story very compelling and exciting to read despite featuring very little fighting-based action; this is instead a book of long-term political plotting action. And once the book hits the 150-page mark, it just gets better and better.

In addition to having a well-written plot and twisty power play mental gymnastics, Fallen City also features great character development. Going back to the dual-timeline approach, Young does a great job showing how different, tired, and hardened both Maris and Luca are in the present compared to their past selves. Quietly ambitious and optimistic for change, the contrast between their younger selves soon to come into power vs their older selves who have become disillusioned and skeptical about the future of Isara is well represented. In addition to their perceived different alliances in the present day, they both represent different ideologies and approaches towards instituting change as well as their affinities to others during a traditional novice/apprenticeship period, Maris working with the priestess blessed by god magic in a religious belief setting vs Luca under the famed philosopher and more pragmatic and scientific environment.

“I’m not different than the birds in those cages.” Her eyes flicked to the villa windows above us. “And neither are you.” … “But there might be hope for you yet Matius. Because you’re no good at this.”

“What?” I called after her.

She disappeared, swallowed by the night, her voice softly drifting behind her. “Pretending”.

While the book’s synopsis and blurb highlight their secret partnership and expected romance, it’s interesting to note that Fallen City does not read like a romantasy book. While the romance is a strong character motivation and element at the root of all their actions, this book does not utilize any romantasy tropes nor does it make an effort to appeal to said readers. Their chemistry is one of perplexing intellectual interest and curiosity, their unorthodox ideas and political strategies the spark between them rather than typical physical or emotional pining, at least initially. What little romance there is consists mostly of quiet longing, conflicted feelings, and concerns for the other’s well-being as opposed to a spicy romance that would be tonally out of place in such a sophisticated story. Both characters are written to be grounded, subdued, and methodical, Maris in particular being a fascinating character to follow whose perspectives I particularly enjoyed both in the past and present day. While I’m not sure if I would consider Fallen City to be an epic fantasy due to the story taking place entirely within the walled city of Isara vs more kingdom-wide tale, it certainly has the tense and grave atmosphere of one that’s decidedly more serious and mature compared to most other trendy fantasy romance or romantasy books. The fantasy elements in this book are relatively light, most of the book feeling more so a historical fiction novel vs a fantasy one, but the story features great atmosphere, respectable world-building, but most importantly well-written in-universe folklore and religious beliefs revolving around the old gods. That said, my impression is that the fantasy elements and lore involving the angry gods watching over Isara will play a bigger role in the sequel book based on the direction the ending appears to be heading.

While Fallen City’s character work and story are excellent, the only nitpick I had while reading this book is its relatively slow start which requires patience for the story to take shape and develop. Despite throwing the reader into a high tension, mid-story moment, the book still feels like it takes a while to get going. The political factions and parties involved in Isara contain a lot of information to cover and with the book effectively juggling four different POV’s from different perspectives and timelines, the story often feels like it’s progressing very slowly. Particularly at the beginning when the book introduces its huge cast of characters, affiliations, and societal nuances, it can be a bit challenging to remember who has what role and what their impressions of others are. While I wouldn’t say it’s difficult to follow, this is one of those books that is better to read consistently as it’s easy to forget previous details or context if read casually in short sittings. Additionally, while I found the story good and mildly interesting at first, it isn’t until 150 pages in where the book’s themes, complexities, and ambition start to show. The early chapters aren’t necessarily boring, but the notable lack of overt action and its preference for raising a judgement stone for a death sentence rather than a sword for visual clashing. From that one third mark onward, the story and plot grow and grow and become an utterly compelling read for those that like political chess-like narratives, but readers who prefer strong action or romance-forward stories may never get there due to the slow start. While I personally don’t mind crossover genre books or fantasy books that are light on magical elements, Fallen City’s relatively little fantasy aspects apart from the lore revolving around gods and certain blessed features may disappoint fantasy readers preferring more overt genre elements. On a more micro critique detail, I also would’ve liked if the book spent more time showing the reader Luca and Vale’s close brotherhood friendship that a good portion of Luca’s perspective and conflicts hinge on as well as Theo who feels under-utilized, though both these points may be addressed in the sequel book.

Well-crafted, polished, and quietly unpredictable, Fallen City is an ambitious story that’s both grand yet intimately personal through Maris and Luca’s eyes. What starts as a seemingly straightforward story of an opposition rebellion steadily grows into an expansive tale of fate, decisions, and consequences. It’s complex plotting and carefully slow pacing likely won’t satisfy everyone and it can be a challenging read particularly in its first third, but those that give Young a chance to cook will find Fallen City to be an excellent read and one that will make the sequel book a must-read to see how things end when it’s published later this year.