Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco - A Review
Throne of the Fallen is the first standalone book in the new Princes of Sin series set in the same universe as the Kingdom of the Wicked Trilogy. This book focuses on the Prince of Envy and woman called Camilla. Envy receives a note, the game has begun, he must participate if he is to have any hope of saving his falling court. Full of riddles, hexed objects and deadly, anonymous players, Envy will stop at nothing to win but nothing he has meticulously planned could have prepared him for her, an infuriating artist that ignites his sin like no one has ever done before. Together, Envy and Camilla must embark on a perilous journey through the Underworld—from glittering demon courts to the sultry vampire realm and beyond—while trying to avoid the most dangerous trap of all: falling in love.
I started this book as a buddy read with a close friend and devoured it in four days. I started it immediately after finishing Kindgom of the Feared, the final book in the first trilogy and I was stoked to know this book was about Envy as he was a character I always wanted to know more about. The beginning was full of intrigue and excitement, it also painted a completely unique perspective on Envy, we see a side to him that he would never let his brothers or anyone in his court see, his character was brilliantly flushed out.
Our new character and love interest Camilla was just as brilliant, she’s fierce, strong and independent. I loved seeing her stand up to Envy and not fall for his looks and sinful charm. Camilla also had plenty of secrets of her own and I really enjoyed the build up to their eventual reveal.
There was a lot of great aspects about this book, the slow-burn matched well with the tension that set during the story. However I do think the book could have been a bit shorter, there was a chunk in the middle that felt quite slow and while I never lost complete interest, it did slow down the pace I was reading at. It was definitely worth it for the last quater or so where we see Camilla in the Underworld. We get to see courts and places that we didn’t get much information about before and it builds a much bigger picture of the Underworld as a whole.
The ending was definitely my favourite part, Kerri Maniscalco really shows us that she’s moved up from Young Adult with a few chapters that are quite dark and we all know I love my dark fantasy and I hope to see more of what Kerri has in store for us in her next book.
