Review: Hero at the Fall

Hero at the Fall by Alwyn Hamilton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Mild case of heartbreak over here.

I fell hard over the first book, you know? It had so much going for it, and Amani and Jin made such a dynamic duo. The first book was full of adventure, magic, and general badassery. I loved it.

Then we copped a second book full of politics and war and YAWNSSSSS which was all the more dull because there was not nearly enough Jin for my liking and Amani is, let's face it, kind of dull without Jin.

So here I was hoping for series redemption but, alas, it did not make my heart leap as I had hoped.

Amani, Jin, and friends, I think it's time we break up.

Don't get me wrong, now - we're still friends. I did enjoy this book, for the same reasons I enjoyed the first. But I also disliked it for the same reasons I disliked the second - so much of it draaaaaaaagggssss because it's all about war tactics and politics and who is gonna rule and who wants to fight who and all that totally dull, mildly confusing stuff.

But! Then there is still magic and this book has way more Jin and we get adventure again and it does have lots more fun stuff than the second one.

What a mess.

At the end of the last book, I predicted I wouldn't be keen on Amani in this one and, oh, guess what? I WAS RIGHT. She's wearing the Bossy Boots now and is kinda power tripping and I'm just not a fan. Even with the conciliatory, 'there was constantly a voice telling me I wasn't good enough' I just didn't buy it. I mean, look, quite honestly? Amani is kind of a dumbass. I really liked her in the first one coz she was selfish and determined yet still had a little bit of a heart. She was feisty, and quick, and gave Jin a run for his money. This book she's tired all the time and orders everyone around and is all patriotic and stuff but she just doesn't think things through. Also, the 'romance' between her and Jin gets a solid MINUS 2 STARS because what the heck was that?! There's zero emotion between them. Are you guys even in love? FFS. (view spoiler)[And it doesn't count if they constantly avoid each other but then suddenly on the eve of battle they must IMMEDIATELY HAVE SEX MAKE SAND AND DUST AND STARS EXPLODE WITH EACH OTHER. (hide spoiler)] I've been shipping these guys from the start but it was such a disappointingly tepid romance the whole way through.

I'm glad Sam is here, because there is just not nearly enough sass without him. I FORGOT TO WARN YOU ABOUT UPCOMING SPOILERS FOR THE PREVIOUS TWO NOVELS. CONSIDER YOURSELF NOW WARNED. Right, so as I was saying, since Shazad is imprisoned, very little sass. Sam gives us some much needed light entertainment, but you can't bail out a sinking ship with a single bucket. Sorry, Sam. I love you, but you just didn't have the sasspport you needed. This book is just heavy with responsibilities and hardship and it makes the whole story quite ... un-fun. Apologies, my mental thesaurus has retreated after the onslaught of such a taxing novel.

Wow. Scattered thoughts here.

I love the storytelling/mythology angle, and have done since the start. I like the little interlude stories, although these ones are all a little shallow and redundant. They were more fun in the first book when they were telling actual myths and legends. But I like that stories play such a big part, even if that's kind of forgotten until the last moment. On the downside, I think a lot of things that happened were just unnecessary. Like, they're grand gestures that lead to great stories but there's only so many you can accept before you start to become skeptical and jaded. (view spoiler)[For example, Imin's sacrifice at the end of book two was totally sad and epic. But then Hala also sacrificing herself? and then Sam sacrificing himself? Honestly, I was out of emotions with all these people sacrificing themselves. I felt very little over the multitude of deaths in this book. (hide spoiler)] I also feel like the mythology should have been taken advantage of more, in favour of all that boring political stuff. How about bringing back some more of those badass horses from the first book? There was so much magic in this world but it was poorly utilised and instead we get another story about the underdogs trying to win the war and overthrow the Big Bad. This makes me sad. What a wasted opportunity. Same case with so many of the characters - Rahim was such a cool guy but he just wasn't given anything to work with.

Guh. My feelings are really all over the place. Let's try bullet points:

GOOD:
- Jin
- Magic
- Myths
- Sam
- Shazad
- Fire
- Destruction

BAD:
-Jin & Amani
- Politics
- Army vs army
- Predictable
- Poor characterisation
- Poor use of mythology
- Science
- Overuse of shock moments
- Amani being an idiot
- Not enough sass

Okay so I have more bad points than good but a lot of it is just because I loved the world so much that the story kind of paled in comparison. I would absolutely read another book set in this world as long as it featured different characters (I'll take a cameo from Jin and/or Sam and/or Shazad, though). It was a decent enough conclusion to the series but overall it was just a disappointing read after all the excitement of the first book.

Also, lots of predictable moments. Lots of frustration figuring things out way ahead of Amani who, as mentioned, is thick as concrete.

I guess I will sum it up by saying I liked it more than the second book, but less than the first. It travels at a decent pace, though, so if you've read the previous two you might as well finish it off.

Let's hope there's a much more interesting story to come out of this world, yet.

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