The Queen of All that Dies
- Jan 5, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 17
The Fallen World, Book One
by Laura Thalassa
"In the future, the world is at war.
For the last decade, King Lazuli of the Eastern Empire has systematically taken over the world. No one knows much about him other than a series of impossible facts: he cannot die, he has not aged since the conflict began, and he wants to rule the world.
All Serenity Freeman has known is bloodshed. War has taken away her mother, her home, her safety. As the future emissary of the Western United Nations, the last autonomous region of the globe, she is responsible for forging alliances where she can.
Surrender is on the horizon. The king can taste it; Serenity feels it deep within her bones. There is no other option. Now the two must come face to face. For Serenity, that means confronting the man who’s taken everything from her. For the king, it means meeting the one woman he can’t conquer. But when they meet, something happens. Cruelty finds redemption.
Only in war, everything comes with a price. Especially love."
I STRUGGLED with this book.
This was the second time I tried to read it. Last time I only came about halfway, I think (even on audiobook). This time I finished it, but I had to take a break, again at about the halfway-point. I have so many mixed feelings that I honestly have no idea how to rate it.
The story is about Serenity, about nineteen, who's been a soldier in WUN (what used to be America) since she was fifteen years old, and now she's following her father's footsteps to become and emissary, to try to negotiate peace with King Lazuli, who's taken over the rest of the world and has been at war with WUN for several years.
Serenity catches the king's attention the moment they meet. He says that in her, he recognizes a kindred soul - another monster. She in her turn, HATES him with a vengeance: other than taking over the world and being responsible for the death of millions of people, he - and the war - was also behind her mother's death.
Shit goes down, the King's guards kill Serenity's father, the WUN decides to marry her off to the King as part of a peace treaty, and she now has to live with this man she considers a monster. Of course, it's some kind of twisted love story in all of this, so a part of her feels drawn to the king, which sparks all kinds of conflicting emotions and angst.
Some more stuff happens, and she's eventually betrayed by the WUN and her closest friend, so now all she has is the king, and she starts actually helping them - in her mind, to help preserve the peace so more people won't have to die in a rebellion - and they grow even closer.
The book ends with a rebel attack on the palace, and the king is whisked away by the guards, leaving Serenity behind. The guard still with her erases her memory using some sort of solution in a syringe, and then kills himself (so the rebels won't be able to torture her for information on the king). Before he fires on himself, he says that the king has a cure for the memory-stuff, and he will find her.
I'm conflicted because:
The king is SO OLD. He's invented some sort of medicine that practically makes you immortal. He's been around for a LONG time, even if he LOOKS about 30-35 (I don't remember exactly). So that's WEIRD. He's like a vampire, without the blood drinking.
I'm not sure how I feel about Serenity over all. At times I think she over-reacts, then I don't think she reacts enough - or she gets over things way too quickly. I mean, I get what the author is trying to do, and it sort of works, but I just don't like the character.
At the same time, I'm intrigued (and always have been, which is why I gave this another chance) by the concept and story. And I kind of want to see where it's going. I probably won't pick the next one up for a little while (and DEFINITELY NOT on audio - the reading sucked, she used such a weird and disturbing pacing that it hurt my brain). I think I need to read other books in between. We'll see what happens with that...
I HAVE read, and really liked Thalassa's The Bargainer series (book 1 and 2), so I know she's a good writer and storyteller. I mostly like the story here as well - it's the characters my main issues are about.
⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️🌶️
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