Hero at the Fall – Alwyn Hamilton

Hero at the Fall Synopsis

“Once, in the desert country of Miraji, there was a Sultan without an heir.

The heir had been killed by his own brother, the treacherous Rebel Prince, who was consumed by jealousy and sought the throne for himself.

Or so it was said by some. There were others who said that the Rebel Prince was not a traitor but a hero…

In the final battle for the throne, Amani must fight for everything she believes in, but with the rebellion in pieces, and the Sultan’s armies advancing across the desert plains, who will lead, who will triumph, who will live and who will die?“

Note: This review is spoiler-free!

Why did I pick it?

Having read the previous 2 books in the trilogy and then hearing Alwyn talk about this one at The Northern Literary Festival I couldn’t wait to start reading it.

I was a big fan of the second book so when the third one was released there was no question that I was going to read it. My only worry was that the second book had been so full of action, I didn’t want this one to fall short of my expectations of more of the same.

What I loved about it

I loved that we got to travel to lots of new and exciting destinations, whilst still progressing the story, especially going into the mountain and “sailing” across the desert. The new locations really opened up the storyline and allowed more protagonists to get involved.

I shouldn’t have worried about the pacing, This novel really took up where the second left off and went for it with full force. I love it when a novel has so many intricate subplots and it’s not until the very end when they all come together that you can appreciate the magic of them all.

Throughout the novel, the story is broken up by “arabian tales” They don’t always add to the storyline, sometimes maybe they aid character development and background. But they are a lovely light relief from the main storyline, it gave me chance to breathe again! You can tell that the author loves experimenting with the different writing styles of ancient tales.

Ahhh the ending, why can’t more books do this! I hate it when a trilogy has loose ends. Unless the author intends to pick up secondary character in other books of course. But here the author gave me the satisfaction of finding out how things ended and played out for a majority of characters, over many many years in the same vein as the “arabian tales”, I loved it!

What I loathed about it

Nothing, I have nothing. I found the whole thing very satisfying and a great end to the series.

Thoughts

A great conclusion to the trilogy, what a journey! For once I felt fully satisfied with the ending although I still want more!

When and where can you can get it

You can purchase Hero at the Fall on Amazon today