I really wish we could give half stars. I would have given 3.5 stars.

As a book I found it to be surprisingly good, but I thought it a fell a bit short of great. I have an aversion to a theme developed in the book, but discounting that, I felt that even though the book began excellently the middle dragged a bit and the end... well it could have been better. One issue I noted was that the protagonists were a bit-overpowered. It didn't start off like that, but towards the end it started to grate. Also I would liked another PoV slightly distant from the convergence to give other perspectives.

Thats all I can say without explicit spoilers, but for a fantasy debut its good. ( )

I had been hearing good things about this series for a while and really wanting to read it. So instead of patiently waiting till it was on top of my "to be read' pile I pushed the pile over and grabbed it. So glad I did But now I will be even further behind on my stack as ill push everything else out of the way Again when the next book gets here. For a Novel as broad of scope as this it took me a remarkably short amount of time to understand the world building, but at the same time it was not generic fantasy tropes at all. and that is something to be treasured.
Good dialog and pacing of the story was just about perfect. Over all I highly recommend this! Thanks for the great story Marc ( )

Marc Turner
WHEN THE HEAVENS FALL
Tor Books, 2015
541 pages
Dark Fantasy

As much as I love reading giant fantasy novels, writing reviews on them is never simple. How do you summarize a tome into a few paragraphs? Below is my best attempt at conveying the pure enjoyment I received from reading WHEN THE HEAVENS FALL.

See if you can stay with me on this, I am going to recap in what I call "a nutshell." Basically there is this Book of Lost Souls. It is filled with power, and magic. Locked power. Locked magic. The one who possess the book, must also know how to unlock the secrets if the power and magic is to be wielded, and wielded correctly.

The existence of such a book poses a threat to the rest of the world for far too many obvious reasons. And so the quest for four separate groups begins. Their race for the book is not unobserved. The one with the book knows the opposition is en route, and will stop at nothing to stop them!

Mayot Mencada is a mage. He has the Book. And with it he unlocked a secret. He found a way to call the souls of the dead back through Shroud's gate. He, in all of his limited wisdom, has recruited an army of undead to protect his person . . . while he works at unlocking more of the book's potential and increasing his power!

Luker, a former Guardian agrees to lead a team. He somewhat strong armed into the mission. The fact his former master, Kanon, disappeared prior to Luker's enlistment is about the only reason he truly agrees. He doesn't care about the book. He wants only to rescue his old friend. Teamed with assassin, Jenna, and some others from the Emperor's personally hand-picked team, they set out to find (Konan) the book!

Luker and Jenna are by far my favorite two characters. They have history together. And although we get snippets into what that history was, snippets mind you, there is clearly another book in their older adventures that I am certain Turner will not leave unturned (unwritten).

Ebon, the Prince of Galitia, has also amassed a small team to join him on the trek across the lands with the intention of recovering the book first! His kingdom is under attack. Raised dead pound at the city walls, and threaten to destroy his realm. Unstoppable, there is little chance of defeating an army that is not alive. Time is of the essence. He needs the book so he can put a stop to the siege!

Romany Elivar is the high priestess to the goddess, Spider. The two are sneaky and conniving. Too late to snatch the book up for themselves, they are left with feeding the book's owner bits and pieces of information on how to handle the magic found inside the pages.

Shroud is the Lord of the Dead. He wants the book as well. It may be the only talisman in existence that can rival his power, his strength his magic -- despite his being a god! Unfortunately, with so many facets in play, snatching the book from Mayot is not as easy as one might hope!

There are so many components, and angels, so many variables, and plots . . . WHEN THE HEAVENS FALL is non-stop. I feel the urgency after turning every page, after reading every paragraph. The characters are superbly crafted. Turner makes you care about each of them: the heroes, the heroines, the nasty, the dark, and the deranged!

I have the second book in the Chronicles of Exile ready to go! I cannot wait to get started!

Phillip Tomasso
Author of the Severed Empire Series,
and The Vaccination Trilogy ( )

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

I first read the first few chapters when they were put on Netgalley and I thought it was the complete book. After my initial disappointment I was very happy when I was later contacted and they asked me if I wanted to read the entire book. Of course I wanted this, as I had enjoyed the first chapters (even though I didn't understand too much about it).

Although I'm a bit inexperienced when it comes to large fantasy sagas (it's usually more like Game of Thrones), this was different from what I've read before, but in a good way. A simple act, a burglary in a temple will have major consequences, not unlike for example in Greek mythology.

Prepare for a large number and characters and shifting POVs. And if you expected to be told what's going on, you're wrong. Don't be afraid of large pieces of exposition because they are not there. Everything you learn is coloured by the character's thoughts and beliefs and you're left to puzzle things together and try to figure out what exactly is going on in that wood. (I'll be honest, it took me some time).

After the first few chapters I didn't understand what the book was about really, but I did like the fact that the Gods in this book, who ever they may be or represent actively mingle in the lives of the mortals while all the same hiding cowardly behind them. Exactly who or what the Spider is, I still don't know after reading the complete book. I'm however intrigued.

I liked the magic. It was complicated as in it takes a lot of time to figure it out, and more importantly, it's not just some ex machina solution to the hero's every problem. There are Elemental mages, necromancers, people sucking the live right out of people, a bunch of people not entirely good or bad but with one thing in common: they all have their own reasons to come look for the book. O, and their is an entire civilization of warrior zombies.

I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did. It was not a fast read, but I enjoyed every page. I'm really looking forward to the next book in this series!

When The Heavens Fall is the first book in the Chronicle of the Exile series. The second book, Dragon Hunters is expected to be published next year.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ( )

This book failed to hook my interest in the first thirty or so pages and thus I abandoned it. I am adding it to LibraryThing so that I don't accidentally acquire it again. ( )