Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh | Book Review

Title: Reign of the Fallen
Series: Reign of the Fallen #1
Author: Sarah Glenn Marsh
Publisher: Razorbill and Listening Library
Published Date: January 23rd, 2018
Genre: Fantasy, LGBTQIA, YA
Format: Audiobook

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
Odessa is one of Karthia's master necromancers, catering to the kingdom's ruling Dead. Whenever a noble dies, it's Odessa's job to raise them by retrieving their souls from a dreamy and dangerous shadow world called the Deadlands. But there is a cost to being raised--the Dead must remain shrouded, or risk transforming into zombie-like monsters known as Shades. If even a hint of flesh is exposed, the grotesque transformation will begin.

A dramatic uptick in Shade attacks raises suspicions and fears among Odessa's necromancer community. Soon a crushing loss of one of their own reveals a disturbing conspiracy: someone is intentionally creating Shades by tearing shrouds from the Dead--and training them to attack. Odessa is faced with a terrifying question: What if her necromancer's magic is the weapon that brings Karthia to its knees?

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 My Review:

“The sun still rises and sets, like it always has. It seems cruel that it wouldn’t stop, just for a little while, to show how much darker the world is without them in it.”   

Oh, fantasy books why can't more of you be like this one? 

Reign of the Fallen is full of fantasy elements, friendships, family drama, and real-life problems as well.




Odessa is a necromancer who loves her job, or at least she thinks she does. Of course, there are times when she doesn’t love it, but with her love by her side, she knows this is exactly what she wants to do. 

This all starts changing though as weird things start happening to Nobles and others that have died.  Add in that something happens to her love which leads to more problems for Odessa and then a princess who is bound and determined to help her in order to save the ‘world’. 

Overall I couldn’t get enough of this book. I absolutely loved it and this world and how it was built. No overload of information ever happened, it was dispersed throughout the story so we were constantly learning how things worked. This book did also deal with addiction, and loss and broken friendships and betrayal in very real life ways, while also making sure to keep the fantastical elements intact.  

I did find myself get some of the characters confused at times, because of how many different ones seemed to appear at the same time. This could have just been because I listened to it on audio. 
The friendships and romances of this book were lovely as well. I couldn’t get enough of them, I did find myself having favorites and I really hope they end up being in the second book!


The ending of this one was so so nice to see in a YA fantasy. There was no major cliffhanger that left you feeling broken. Yet it was also able to have you wanting to continue to be with these characters and to see what adventures they get up to next!