You never want to ruin a really good dramatic exit. When you flee home on a cyborg horse the exact second you turn eighteen, you don’t really expect to go back to the place you fled from, you know? But sometimes your old life hits you from behind.
Sometimes you spend years away from home, killing dangerous people who had the bad luck to get infected by a lungful of ghostfog, only to find out that your dad, the king, is dead, and now your siblings are ordering you back home for a high stakes family reunion.
But when you’ve got four heirs who are all the same age, the line of succession tends to get a wee bit murky. So in order to regain your independence, you’ve got to navigate a deadly web of intrigue, where every sibling wants your allegiance, and any decision might tear your country-and your family-apart.
Gideon the Ninth meets Realm of the Elderlings in this post-apocalyptic science fantasy featuring court intrigue, thyroid-powered swords, and cyborg horses!
Jared Leys –
The Fall Is All There Is by CM Caplan is one of the finest 1st person narratives I’ve ever read. Wonderfully bizarre worldbuilding and an engaging protagonist make this story a treat to read from beginning to end.
Petre is an incredible main character and narrator. His perception of the world and the way he shares it with the reader in an often conversational tone captivated me in a way I’ve rarely experienced before. Petre makes this story what it is.
But the main character is far from the only successful element in this book. The truly strange world the characters travel through works in perfect combination with Petre’s constant uncertainty about what’s going on.
Why does this world have buffalo trees and an infecting ghost fog? Who knows. Is the society medieval or futuristic? Maybe both, or neither. Most of it doesn’t make a ton of sense, at least as far we’re told in Book 1, but it all fits well and is utterly fascinating to read.
I highly recommend this book.