Alright Curious Ones, it is finally time for another book curiosity! I borrowed a trilogy this time from the Kindle Unlimited library (which I am sure you are starting to realize is my favorite thing to do – borrow a set or partial set so I have more material to read) so it has been awhile since my last curiosity discussion. This trilogy was written by both Marisa Mills and Drake Mason and they used the tagline “I can speak to demons. The punishment is death. ”
When I read that, I absolutely had to choose this trilogy as my monthly rental!
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I will admit to being a bit worried about some conflicting drama between the characters due to a male and female author team, but I will also admit that I absolutely loved it! The drama was relatively normal drama when considering the plot and the characters were all built to seem very realistic. In this day and age, one can get lost in the surroundings of character flaws or missed opportunities when writing a book that can easily get self-published, yet these two authors absolutely excelled.
It is time to delve into the Academy of Falling Kingdoms Series.
Wynter Is Coming
To begin, we have the main protagonist Wynter. I adore this spelling and it also gave you a bit of foreshadowing into the complete uniqueness of her situation. Wynter is portrayed as a skin-and-bones young girl who spends every day searching through the dumps of her home to find enough ‘expensive’ items to trade them to her uncle for a small room and the smallest bits of food. She has a brother, a best friend, and a dream of earning a brighter future for them. Her parents are not a part of the picture and her circumstances give off a bit of a Cinderella vibe. I enjoyed the Cinderella-ey vibe though. It helped keep it a little more connectable.
You are first introduced to this set of characters. Immediately, you are drawn to sympathy and hope for them all. Except her uncle, of course, who is the equivalent to an even more evil stepmother than the original evil stepmother. He punishes them for their “failures” and retaliates by selling her to a mage from the floating kingdom above. The mage doesn’t seem to be too eager or kind either, but she latches onto the opportunity to hopefully buy her freedom from her uncle to provide the better life she wants for her brother and friend.
Wynter’s Mission
Her mission is to infiltrate the school of mages as a mage herself. She has no magic, has never even seen a proper lady and has absolutely no idea how to sell herself as one of them. She must find and steal a journal that the nobleman wants.
On her journey she realizes she can hear whispers. This turns out to be a bad thing that will get her killed if anyone finds out about it. She passes the entrance exam by faking the use of fire magic with a spelled object given to her by the mage who bought her.
One thing I really enjoyed about this trilogy is that they didn’t spend chapter after chapter describing how she learned to become an elite lady. Typically at least 2 or 3 chapters are dedicated to this evolution of the character. It was honestly really nice to draw the conclusion yourself and just get told that it took what felt like endless days in order to redirect her bad habits so she could come off as a lady from one of the lower realms instead of a beggar and slave from the lower realms. It was a very nice change from the normal settings of most novels.
As she takes the next step to showing herself as a mage, she must choose an artifact that “speaks” to her. Remember, she can hear the voices within them which prompts her to ask if any of them would be willing to help her get through her mission. A short sword is the only whisper who speaks out. He introduces himself as Lucian.
It was around this time when I realized that the voices she was hearing must be the demons and that they must have been trapped inside the objects. I assumed they were trapped mostly because of the small tidbits of information you had to glean from what had happened so far.
The Source of Magic – The Academy of Falling Kingdoms Book #1
The first book, I will say, was mostly uneventful until the final couple chapters. There wasn’t much that was putting you on the edge wanting for more information. A few demon attacks here, a couple slight-handed remarks from her immediate nemesis there and a small notion of romance with the untouchable sixth-born prince and that was about all that happened in the first novel.
With that said though, I was still curious enough to keep reading. Especially after the ending! I mean, total plot twist! The greatest thing was that in the beginning when we were first introduced to the true antagonist for this first novel, I absolutely called it – but then the antagonist kind of took a backseat in the whole book, only mentioned enough to keep you updated on where she was. Frankly, I think it was pure genius and loved it.
I have a habit where if the first book, for the most part, was a dud, but the authors were creative and smart, I absolutely give the second book a shot. In this case, the first book wasn’t a TOTAL dud, but it came close. The end definitely brought it back up to good quality. I obviously read the whole trilogy here, so you can’t be too shocked at my findings.
I also have to add real quick that the grammatical, spelling, and point of view editing was on point. It is typical to find one or two miss-steps in a book. Nowadays many books have one or two errors within the first chapter, but this series was a breeze to read though. So if you are a reader who loves fantasy and needs to have on-point grammar then the Academy of Falling Kingdoms Series will definitely satiate your appetite.
To continue, the first book holds many of the keys you need to fully understand the sequels. We end the first book with a terrifyingly personal attack by her nemesis Viviane followed quickly with Wynter and Alex (the forbidden 6th in line prince) falling through a gap in the academy floor. I don’t think I mentioned earlier that the academy was located on the upper realm which is a floating piece of land. They essentially fell off a cliff to their deaths.
Of course, we all know they survived because there are three books, but a lot of really interesting stuff happens in those last two books. I will try to keep the big spoilers to myself!
Needless to say, after saving them from falling, Wynter not only shows a royal family member that she can speak to demons – which is punishable by death – but that she also knows the lower realms more than any noble lady would. Alex begins to suspect and when she comes clean he is disgusted and leaves her to get back to the academy herself.
I will admit to wanting Wynter and Lucian to end up together. Alex was rude and entitled and very off-putting for me the entire series. Even at the end when I knew who would end up with who, I was quietly rooting for a different outcome. Saying that, I do approve for the most part on how it ended. The authors did an amazing job.
The Secret of Magic – The Academy of Falling Kingdoms Book #2
Throughout the second book and even the third Wynter gains many truly loyal friends. Even her nemesis switches sides and joins the team in a way that is 100% agreeable! Wynter also discovers who her real parents are and what happened to them. In the third book there is a plot twist that I refuse to talk about because I absolutely LOVED it! I think I even had a jaw-drop when it was all said and done.
For the majority of the second book they unravel the insidious plots between some rivaling floating kingdoms. They go off on their adventure and come back stronger, though they essentially failed. I genuinely liked how it took the entire group to be successful. Usually in groups of friends in academy based novels the main protagonist ends up having to take and do most of the work. I feel that even though that happened on occasion in the Academy of Falling Kingdoms Series, the burden of the world also was held relatively equally by her rag-tag group of friends, especially when they joined in the war. It wasn’t just that Wynter brought all sides together. Everyone in her group – mage, demon and human alike all wielded the power to save their worlds. It was remarkable.
They all loved and lost and hoped and sacrificed pieces of who they were to save their world. You got to see growth in each and every character while you learned about each of their pasts just enough to understand why they stood on the sides and positions there stood on. Even the adults grew as they realized that their ancestors’ actions were what caused the falling of their worlds and the imprisonment of the demons.
The third book is The Scourge of Magic. It’s amazing, and like I said, I don’t want to ruin any plot twists for you, Curious One!
Final Thoughts
I typically can talk about these sorts of books for ages. However, this series started in the ballpark and took it out of the park! I really hope your curiosity was piqued and you want to check this series out. I would suggest it to any fan of YA fantasy or coming-of-age stories full of moral decisions that seem hard to make. Perhaps there was a bit of annoyance on my end by the total naivety of Wynter and her decisions, but the authors really helped you out by declaring a time or two that she really just saw the best chances in people and wanted the best for literally everyone.
This series is all about teamwork and Mills and Mason created the perfect world to jump into every night to experience it right alongside the good guys fighting the bad guys.
I read some notes from other readers that said they wanted more. More books in the series or a novella or two about the other characters. I cannot say I would be absolutely against it, but I did like the series being kept originally as the trilogy. Sometimes authors can get carried away in how many side stories they can add to their initial plot line. Oftentimes they are done for the wrong reasons and maybe that is why I am on the fence in regards to more pieces of this world being available. The storyline and plot are intricate; adding more to them could easily take away from the beauty and importance of the world that Mills and Mason created in the Academy of Falling Kingdoms.
I love how each concluded and grew and I fear that continuing the stories will take away from the powerful messages the original trilogy was trying to express. I’m a sucker for heroines who realize that they don’t have to take on the world themselves and realizing that asking for help from people you love doesn’t make you weak or a failure. The support system you build and grow for yourself is a reflection on how strong you are. Just because you can do it by yourself doesn’t mean you have to. I felt that connection deeply with this trilogy.
If you want to experience the entire range of emotion while reading a series, go for the Academy of Falling Kingdoms Trilogy. I got angry. I laughed. I cried, Curious One. I cried hard! I snorted a time or two and I even fell asleep once! I strongly suggest this series to anyone looking for a good, easy-to-follow, beautiful world that lets you escape with shock and pride both. I love finding a gem like this to keep in my personal library to go back to when I need a break from my own life for an hour.
Look this series up, Curious One; it will blow your mind! After I take a breather… it’s time for another book…
Drake Mason on Twitter: @UrbanEpicsBooks
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