Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsGet your geek on
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2020
You may have noticed similarities between the covers of CN Crawford's Fallen and Linsey Hall's Infernal. No, you aren't seeing things. These two authors teamed up to take on the Hades-Persephone myth. Fallen is Crawford's take, and it couldn't be more fun!
Crawford takes a loose interpretation of the myth, basing her Hades as Samael, more widely known as Satan. But he's not the guy we know, this is CN Crawford at work, so we hear from Samael's view, his motivations, the awakening of feelings and his battle to resist. His sword is named after a demon, his one friend, another named 'fallen'. His desire? To rule. His problem? Lila.
Lila. A thief trying to survive in this world at strife against the Fallen. A beauty hidden amongst the rabble, plucked from her obscurity to serve the Fallen. Used by Free Men to spy, and by the Fallen for the same, neither imaging that Lila had her own agenda. Her life among thieves allows her to travel between both.
Crawford creates a world within a world. Things that you'll recognize from myth that give the story grounding. Touches that seem out of place but give me a chuckle. She sets the scene so it hits all of your senses, colors, sights and sounds, scents, the feel of cobble stones under your feet and the softness of velvet. Always a treat.
That building battle between the Fallen and Free Men traps Lila in a situation of her own making. Samael exiles her. And we wait for the next encounter, the next season of battle, of seduction (yeah, you heard me) of Lila and Samael.
