After months of being separated, Reaver and Killian are finally together; but their happiness is short lived. Unbeknownst to Killian, Reaver is struggling with his own inner demons, demons that threaten to not only rip Reaver apart, but their entire relationship as well.
Unfortunately though, it’s not only demons they have to worry about. Reaver and Killian are going to quickly realize that the plaguelands hold to them a threat that the greywastes and Skyfall have never seen; a dangerous creature that has discovered just how valuable immortals are.
And back in Skyfall, the Dekker family is about to be tested in ways they’ve never been before. Chimeras who were once seen as unstoppable will be stopped, those deemed shatterproof will be shattered, and the higher these men are, the longer and harder they’ll fall. Who will rise from the ashes, and who will burn in the flames still remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure…
Quil Carter has been writing stories since he learned how to write. Now that people seem to like his stories, this is pretty much what he is planning on doing with his life.
One star for every grey hair I got while writing this book! But it was worth it and, damn, is it ever good to be back with Reaver and Killian. Where I belong!
This book took me on a journey of many emotions 😫 I was angry, happy, disgusted, very disgusted and then boom I was stanning again. There is a few things I didn’t like and it felt unnecessary and my guy Reaver is someone I don’t even recognize.
Lots of info in this one and we learn all the things
LOTS OF
Sometimes their are people that shouldn’t bone and this book has at least 5 of them and I was like “do not want” but it’s the Fallocaust and shit goes down in a destroyed world. I will have to dive in to the next book in the series cuz the ending was like
Overall, I really enjoyed it. Lots of things like I said I didn’t like and a fave character is no longer a fave because he a dumbass and I don’t even know man but I freaking love this series and it continues to be entertaining even with all dem damn pages 😫
O grande culpado de ter dado 2 estrelas é o cap35. Sou uma pessoa que tolera muitas coisas, mas o lance do cap 35 me deu ódio... Nunca fiquei tão frustrada lendo algo. Pode até ser infantil da minha parte ( COM CERTEZA). Achava que Quil Carter fosse mais criativo, mas conseguiu estragar minha vontade de continuar nessa história. Estou largando essa jornada, foi bom até tudo ser estragado com essa porra de capítulo.. Antes que eu me decepcione mais.. É melhor eu abandonar esse barco😢 Estou com raiva e dando ataques infantis de frustração.... ╭━━┳╮╱╱╭┳━━━╮ ┃╭╮┃╰╮╭╯┃╭━━╯ ┃╰╯╰╮╰╯╭┫╰━━╮ ┃╭━╮┣╮╭╯┃╭━━╯ ┃╰━╯┃┃┃╱┃╰━━╮ ╰━━━╯╰╯╱╰━━━╯
5 STARS Ok where to start, will "FUCK ME IT'S AWESOME" suffice. It's also by far the best book to emerge from the dark dystopian hell hole known as Fallocaust and it's now my new favourite . Yes Book 1 and Breaking Jade just got bumped kidz, actually they got shoved from first place as my personal favourites and fell rather unseemly as they were usurped from their positions, this book is in a league of it's own.
In all seriousness though the writing and editing style really stood out to me too and I feel like that's due to the direction this book takes. It's very polished and slick but don't let that fool you initially as I almost got lulled into a false sense of security but nothing like that will ever last in that wretched place.
It's bigger, badder and nastier than the other books too and it's ever so dark secrets that are wrapped up in lies or completely unknown about spew forth as all their secret agenda's are purged as the option of choosing a side slowly becomes everyman for himself or was it really like this in the first place?
This is what makes this books so good. It's like we know the lay of the land, almost everyone's plans go awry after someone throws a few grenades but it's more like their heads/emotions/anger explode and that little ripple causes major damage. I have the feeling the the next instalment might progress directly to carpet bombing and I'm already gagging for the next book. It is a monumental cliffhanger of an ending and Quil never seems to leave you hanging for too long between his books that are divided into part 1 & 2, but he also steps it up and just when you think you know what's happening, tangents explode all over the place and in different directions too.
As these books already have well established main characters, with one minor exception. The Suicide King Volume 1 just dives head first over a cliff into the dynamics of power play between characters, revealing a plot that has essentially been in play for around 90 years come apart and unravel spectacularly into one amazingly well written and constructed CLUSTERFUCK. Let's not forget to mention all the minor sub-plots brimming with subterfuge and nasty cloak and dagger escapades which involve some people that are clueless to it all but have no idea just how important they are to everything, I sometime still get the feeling that Elish is not the grand puppet master he thinks he is but you just never know. Killian and Reaver are really put to the test and it's extremely harsh on them. What they endure is mind blowing and it puts their relationship on the rocks, they are pushed to their boundaries. It was actually quite hard to read and who know's if this is their wake up call or goodbye. It is an extremely emotional book and most of the main players seem to be effected negatively by it majorly.
This is one incredible series, but there are **major trigger warnings** from just about everything I could possibly name. As I have said it's now my favourite all time series. It puts you out of your comfort zone but it's well worth it. If you like this review then go back and read ALL of the books, under NO circumstance skip the companion books, they need to be read. OK now for the people who see the word count and groan, I will never understand that. Yes they're all massive novels but they'll fly by so quickly you won't notice
I'm not really sure how I feel about this series anymore. It's reached a point where every character seems to be merging into the same / similar personality, and they're all fucking horrible! It's hard to be invested in the outcome when you don't particularly like any of the characters anymore...
The pacing also feels weird to me. These books are hefty, like 700 pages minimum quite often, and for that kind of time investment I do expect the plot to be going along at a good pace, not just rehashing things over and over again. The last few books though have felt a little like groundhog day. We go to the same location multiple times before anything even happens that truly affects the plot. Everything else is just information or background. For example, the multiple visits to Melchai felt like filler content. Why couldn't they have arrived when the festival was about to begin, instead of arriving, learning, leaving, coming back, learning more.... It felt redundant to me because they could have learnt the same information in one visit and saved maybe 50 pages?!
I'm honestly not sure if I want to keep reading the series at this point. It would be different if there seemed to be some kind of redeeming quality in at least one character, but at this point they're all the same and everything gets blamed on being a chimera because 'it's my nature'.... I'm honestly a little tired of the constant rape and the justification that it's ok because they're chimera, then the hypocrisy if anyone else is raping someone? I really don't know how to like any of these characters at this point!
Even Killian and Reaver don't feel endgame to me anymore, they just feel destined to repeat the past and we've already seen how that turned out....
I just don't know if I want to read more if we're just going to be going round in circles for thousands of pages with characters who aren't even likeable where they are now.
Thank you Alia for keeping me sane while I was reading this though!!
This is going to be an unpopular opinion and I'm not writing this to be cruel, but I am going to be honest. This book is in severe need of editing. It was so bad that it drug me out of the story many times. The mistakes are numerous . There was abuse of ellipses, most of the ones used weren't necessary. There were commas where they weren't needed and none where they were needed. There were periods where there should have been question marks, past and present tense used in the same paragraph and so much repetition that it probably could have been cut by 200 pages. Or more. At 3% Sanguine swings the hammer"with my tongue sticking out of the side of my mouth" and on the very next page he is talking to Kiki "as my tongue stuck out of the corner of my mouth". At one point in the story, Killian mentions men wearing black robes and in the next paragraph he tells us again that the men were wearing black robes. There are sentences that make no sense at all such as " Reaver is as good as dead, the clone who was mostly Sky" Or at least it doesn't make sense to me. There are wrong words or typos that spell check doesn't catch because they are spelled right just used wrong, Killian instead of Killian's and residents instead of residence, witnessing instead of witnessed, chemically instead of chemical , honestly instead of honesty, and many more .
When Kerres has Jade chained to the bed , Jade mentions that he is completely naked, yet a few pages later Kerres is ripping his boxers off of him so he can rape him. Then there is this from Killian "There was no time to ask him and I was too caught in watching these four figures to squeeze his hand for reassurance. My focus remained fixed on the four, now walking down the invisible barrier like Noah after he had parted the sea." As far as I know, Noah never parted any sea, ever. Moses did. All of these things would have been caught by an editor .
I loved the first few Fallocaust books and Breaking Jade. It seems with each new book there are more and more mistakes. I would gladly wait years for a well written book rather than getting a sub par one every few months.
I did like Theo calling Jade "dead boy" , that made me laugh. I loved the ending , it was one of my favorite lines in Fallocaust and I thought Reaver saying it to Killian and beheading Kiki was brilliant. I'll miss Kiki tho, I liked him.
I do have issues with the way Reaver healed himself. I sometimes have contact with rape victims in my line of work and I can't imagine any one of them ever choosing that as a way to heal. I don't see Reaver ever being friendly with Nero or forgiving him either. The rape of Adler by Reaver and Nero was disappointing to me also. I know Reaver is Reaver, but I had hoped maybe he wouldn't choose that path anymore after all he had been through.
I read this with two other people. One of them loved it, one of them didn't finish it. I was just kind of meh about it. I really wish I would have liked it more. I wanted to.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
JFC. I can't even explain. All I can say is this is twisted, disturbing, horrific, and utterly awesome. Well, awesome if you love twisted, disturbing, and horrific story plots. Fans of this series are in for a treat.
I can’t even start to explain how much I was waiting for this book. When I saw the pre-order option, I thought I would faint, so of course as soon as I got my hands on it, I started reading. And that’s all I did for the whole night. Taking a break and stopping just wasn’t an option, the story sucked me in and didn’t let go even after I finished reading it.
Quil Carter was right when he said this book was going to bring the strongest characters to their knees. That’s exactly what happened. Reaver and Elish have fallen so hard, and their way back on top was simply devastating. I rarely cry, but here I couldn’t stop. So many emotions were raging, so many hearts broken… Since Killian has been made immortal, I naively thought the problems would end, but no, they only increased. Reaver still can’t get over what happened to him because of Nero, which leads to psychotic breakdowns and bursts of uncontrollable fury. He turned even more aggressive, and this time even Killian suffers from it because when those terrible memories resurface, Reaver can no longer tell what’s real and what’s not. I didn’t think Reaver could get any darker, but he did.
Same for Elish. Oh, Elish… I love him to death. He’s my most favorite character – though Reaver follows him closely, — and all the time I drank in moments when he’s vulnerable, when he shows emotions and love he has for Jade. I always wanted more and more of that, and in this book I got more than I ever hoped for. Elish got broken. Elish got destroyed. Elish turned into someone I would never imagine him becoming — a shell with only darkness, bitterness and grief inside, an addict who can only drink himself into oblivion, use drugs and kill men, women, children, even his friends. He horrified me, but at the same time I felt heartbroken because his pain, his hurt were unimaginable. This book is probably one of the most important ones in Fallocaust universe because it changes the perception and values of the main characters. Elish no longer dreams of becoming the King and destroying Silas. He finally realized what in his life means the most to him. Killian can no longer close his eyes to darkness that keeps growing in Reaver — he starts standing up for himself, making tough decisions even though he still loves that half-man, half-chimera desperately.
Silas no longer wants to keep torturing his family. Slowly, painfully, he’s getting himself to stop from obsessing over Sky. Jade starts seeing Elish as a person who suffers and has many flaws, who can sink low just like everyone else — and it only makes him love him more. Garret stops blindly following Elish’s orders. Jack lets his feelings for Sanguine show (and Sanguine goes through hell in this part, I couldn’t believe my eyes, that’s *so cruel*!).
Reaver finally manages to find himself after tortures he suffered from Nero, but now it might lead to him losing the only person he loves so crazily and totally. Reaver scared me in this book. He really became even darker, colder and more violent than before. I understand his reasons for doing what he did, but I also understand Killian’s fury and pain. Now I’m wondering if this can be fixed, because while in the very end Reaver proved the depth of his love for Killian, this is still madness and I’m not sure Killian would be able to forgive and forget. Yes, Reaver would kill for him, he would destroy the world for him. But can he live with him when there is no danger? Can he be happy with that? It remains to be seen.
Almost all alliances are broken. New, unique and unexpected alliances are formed. Reaver, Silas and Elish reached the bottom of madness, and now they are slowly coming back up. I’m more or less sure of Silas and Elish… but Reaver with his excessive darkness scares me. I can’t imagine how he’s going to reach the balance between good and evil.
I’ve lost a character I liked a lot here, but we also met someone new and exciting. I want to know more about Adler. Maybe one day he would be able to become a partner for our King (if Sky is truly not coming back) ? It doesn’t look like that now, not at all, but in future… who knows. I want Silas to be happy. I want all of them to find their happiness.
This is a crazy journey of pain, madness and blinding, crushing, devastating emotions. I feel like I’ve been in hell and back. Quil Carter is an amazingly talented writer, and his brilliance was proved once again with this masterpiece. I can hardly wait for the second part!
I am sort of speechless right now. I promise I'll review properly after the holidays. But in the meantime wow, just wow. Right: i think I am ready to review. Or maybe I am ready to take a long and rambling walk down all of the reasons that I love this book and his equally crazy brothers. First off this is, in my opinion, the best book in the series - not necessarily content wise, but most certainly language wise. The language, the writing has matured visibly and gone are those niggling spelling mistakes that sort of marred the first books in the series. With that out of the way. I have found myself pondering quite a bit on what makes me love a book recently, and one of the constants is that the story must be good, it must be engaging, it must keep me up all night, resentful of work and chores and in this specific case of the flipping holidays! The other fundamental love factor in my reading is that a book, a series, breaks all the rules: heck I imagine writers like Quil getting the rule book and then setting it on fire cackling.
The Suicide King is - as are all of his brother - dark, horrific, triggering, scary and terrifying and I loved it. The story picks up from the end of book 2 and doesn't let up not even for 5 minutes. It is 730 pages of action packed adrenaline filled plot. The rest of the review is beyond the spoiler tags so please, please do not read on if you haven't read/finished the book or even read/finished the other books: it'd be a crying shame to know what happens. These books take me miles out of my comfort zone, they are uncompromising in the horror of the world they are set against, the characters are all psychotic and yet they have great potential for fierce redemption. The story is endlessly engaging, the plot tight and entertaining in an terrifying kind of way and I love them to no end. I do hope book 2 of The Suicide King is just around the corner because i cannot wait to see what happens.
I LOVED it! it's the best book of the series for me. It's funny how I went from disturbed and annoyed exasperated to this, being on my Favourites shelf. I love the characters and the story so damn much, I'm overlooking the things that disturb me. The characters have so many layers and the story with its twists and turns is so alluring. I can't possibly describe the awesomeness with words. Can't wait for the neeeeeeext. I was pissed at Reaver for how he treated Killi and what happened to my Sanguine my baby. Also i wanted Jack or Nero to save him and read more about him. I hope he gets some happiness. I'm intrigued about Adler and how the fuck Silas knew him and never mentioned him? And Napoleon! Aw and Drake, such an amazing fellow. I like Nero and Elish now more. never thought I'd say that. Elish is such a greedy bastard and Nero a brute. I hope I see more of Ceph and Nero, because Nero barely mentioned him. And generally to see more of everyone together.
EDITED
So even though, sometimes this series is too intense and dramatic and disturbing for me, i'm still going to read this. Definetely. That's saying something. It's the characters. They're so real and I love them. And the story too. I hope I like I like this :)
My little heart can’t take this 😫 I swear it’s growing darker with every twist as the series progresses. Deep breaths. In, out. I’ve got this 🧘♀️
My thoughts throughout the book:
(I’m a complete hypocrite when writing reviews for this series because all the characters are insane and it makes me insane too).
⚠️⚠️Spoiler Central: Proceed at Your Own Risk (Don't say I didn't warn you!) ⚠️⚠️
Reaver and Killian
Wow, wow, wow. Reaver. After all the love and devotion you showed Killian in the last book, you really pulled a 180 here and for what?! Absolute jerk behaviour. I can’t believe it.
Don’t get me wrong, I get it. Reaver’s completely lost after what Nero did to him, and my heart aches for him. Reaver is probably one of my favourite MMCs of the year. But also? Fuck me, he’s such a dick to Killian. And here’s where I draw the line: Reaver, you can be a dick to whoever you want and I’ll cheer you on but not to my Killicat.
And for what? Because Killian wants to be an equal in the relationship? Because he wants to protect you as much as you want to protect him? Because he wants you to rely on him too? And you treat him like crap for loving you? No. I can’t defend you for that.
Reaver, wanting Killian to stay the helpless, crying baby you first met is just delusional. He���s been through hell and back of course, he’s going to toughen up. I’d be more worried if he hadn’t!
And don’t get me started on Nero. What. The. Actual. Fuck. I get that Reaver did what he did with Nero to “overcome his weaknesses,” but then you become bros with him? Bros?! It makes me sick to my stomach. And the fact that Killian heard them having sex while literally fighting for his life on the floor below? That broke my heart into tiny pieces.
And yes, Reaver, what you did with Adler and Nero is cheating!
But my Killibee? Oh I love you baby. You’re so strong. Once again, Killian proves he’s growing up, using critical thinking when Reaver clearly can’t. He saved their arses so many times.
When he chased Reaver with the machete? ICONIC. I was rooting for him!! go on baby, cut that maniac in half!!
But because I’m probably a sick fuck too, when Reaver lost it and blew up the garage, then took Kiki’s head to prove his commitment to Killian?
"Never doubt my commitment to you again." ↳ This is a full circle moment 😫 I ate that up. I loved it. This series is driving me nuts.
I know Perish is dead but I swear I would resurrect him if I could just for Killian. Perish understood Killian in ways Reaver clearly doesn’t, at least not in this book. Killian needed someone who saw his worth, supported his growth, and didn’t treat him like some broken thing that had to stay broken to be loved.
Yes, Reaver and Killian are toxic AF. But somehow, they’re still the healthiest couple in the series, and I can’t decide if that says more about them or the rest of the cast. Either way, I’m obsessed.
Elish and Jade
Sooooo we finally see the cold chimera losing it. Do I feel bad? Yes. Do I feel very bad? No. Elish brought this on himself. If he hadn’t been so stubborn and just turned Jade immortal ASAP, none of this would’ve happened. He’s got no one to blame but himself.
That said, I did like that he stayed with the Ravers and started being referred to as King’s Jade’s husband instead of the other way around. Damn right!! Jade for the win.
Jade, my poor baby, just cannot catch a break 😭
Other Characters
• Nero: Eternal hatred. Never forgiving him for what he did to Reaver in the previous book. And his excuse? "It's nothing personal." Yeah, fuck you. "I love all my brothers, we're bros, ducky." Yuck, yuck, yuck. Go back into that concrete, you sick fuck. He got off way too easily, and I don't trust him one bit. I hope he dies for good soon. • Kiki: Everyone seems to like him, but I'm neutral. Couldn't care less that he died. Lmaooo • Silas and Reno: Lmaooo, what was that? Strange, strange, strange but okay l guess. Is Garrett all good with that? • Alder and Spike: Hate Spike. Couldn't care less about Alder either just give him to Silas so Reaver and Killian can finally live in peace. Please, I'm begging.
This series makes me lose my mind in the best and worst ways, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Phew. I am worn the fuck out. I read the last 50% of this book in 24 hours and might be in Fallocaust overload and yet I cannot stop. Emotional as hell and what a wild ride full of new revelations and quite honestly some mental killing of characters in my head. Now granted that most of the ones I want to kill can't actually die, so it is just the thought that counts. :)
And while I love Reaver, I am very concerned that the shit storm he is leaving in his wake will come back to haunt him. We shall see.
Elish and Jade though...wow...All the feels. And Reno and a certain asshat...yeah...Swoonville.
I’m very disappointed and sad that this series has failed to evolve in any kind of satisfying way. What started out as a really horrific and disturbing yet extremely entertaining tale has grown extremely repetitive and stale. There are no redeeming characters or plot lines. Sooner or later, everyone will be abused, tortured and raped and they will all commit abuse, torture and rape, even characters that were extremely traumatized by the abuse that they suffered. It feels like Carter wants us to feel empathy and compassion toward characters who not only have no empathy or compassion for others but who also feel giddy, gleeful and sexually aroused while committing the most horrific atrocities against each other and against humanity in general. This sick, fucked up dynamic has been apparent since the beginning but it felt like some of the characters had potential to break the cycle of abuse. I no longer have any reason to believe that even one main character will be anything other than disappointing and/or monstrous.
Equally frustrating is the way Carter regurgitates plot lines and character “evolution” to death.
For example, one repetitive theme is how when a character loses someone important to them, they feel the desire and need to make the entire world suffer with them and they go on torture, rape and killing sprees. We’ve seen this with Silas losing Sky, Jade being abandoned by Elish, Elish losing Jade and Reaver thinking he’s being abandoned by Killian.
Another example of a regurgitated theme is how characters feel regret and remorse for how they’ve treated their loved one, vow to never repeat their mistakes and then in the very next paragraph, chapter, or book, go right back to making the same mistakes and/or behaving in the same horrifically abusive manner. Reaver and Elish are prime examples of this. With Reaver, his behavior and abuse is actually becoming worse. MUCH worse. With Elish, it’s hard to say at this point whether or not he will continue to make choices that are detrimental to Jade’s well being, but if I’ve learned one thing about this series, it’s that no matter how gentle a character looks and acts, sooner or later he will return to being overwhelmingly selfish, abusive and evil eventually.
One of the repetitive themes that I find most aggravating is how characters think they can “heal” Silas if they just love and support him enough. Elish’s backstory indicates he thought he could heal Silas. Sanguine thinks he can. Reno thinks he can. Garrett thinks a Sky clone can. And most of the chimera at the very least feel sorry for Silas *gag and fume* They pander to and enable this sick fuck who endlessly degrades, tortures and kills them and the ones they love.
Still another repeated plot line is Kerres kidnapping and torturing people to get to Jade. It’s been done 3 times so far and I have no doubt that it or some version of it will happen again. Kerres is a cockroach and it’s obvious he’ll be back.
How and why did I continue to read this far into the series? At the beginning, even though the world and the characters were horrific, I was fascinated, entertained and entranced. I had hope that at least some of them could grow and change and become more sympathetic and empathetic, at the very least toward their partners. I believed that at least some of the characters had redeeming qualities. I also enjoyed some of the plot lines, the ones that were intriguing, fresh and mysterious. Finally, this series is KU, so I figured I had nothing to lose but time.
Unfortunately, I no longer believe that this series will be resolved in a way that doesn’t disappoint, frustrate and anger me. As far as I’m concerned, Silas has no redeeming qualities, Reaver is an ass of epic proportions, Killian is a sad, codependent doormat who will always return to his abusers and everyone else supports and enables Silas’ toxic, inhumane, narcissistic, psychopathic behavior.
Based upon the 1, 2, 3, and no star reviews of the books that follow this one, it’s pretty clear that things will continue in the same way. I am really sad to say that I’m done, this is the last book I will read in the series. It had so much potential to be an epic series, it was compelling, unique and fascinating, but all the things that made it worth reading for me have been snuffed out, tortured and raped to death.
1 sadly snuffed star *sob*
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
How many adjectives are there to describe shock? I only know so much therefore I guess I'll just have to stick with gif's.
I'm going to be honest here, personally I didn't really care for the first half of this story, there were just POV's I could have been spared. I didn't care for Jack, Sanguine or Elish. Those fuckers deserved their fate and in a way I understood why I had to read about the fall of the ever so proud, prideful, manipulative Elish Dekker but the others?.....Not so much, but it is what it is.
As for the last half..........OH MY GOD.
Reaver. Reaver. Reaver. What the fuck? I don't....don't.......the hell am I suppose to write?
For much of this story people Reaver is struggling to return to his version of 'normal'. He's been raped by the most sadistic chimera brother in that fucked up family of his and as such doesn't know how to cope with the violation. For someone as arrogant and violent as this born immortal the ordeal is slowly deteriorating his stability so in a bid to prove he's not losing his shit, he sets about taking unnecessary risks, being abusive towards his partner, actively voicing his dominance (in an already unhealthy relationship), randomly killing....etc. etc. Finally that moment comes where he faces the demons of his past and that......that my friends is when everything goes to shit. Epically.
If you've read Volume 2 you know that Perish made Killian immortal. With this new improvement to his body Killian slowly builds confidence, (much to Reaver's dismay) and for the first time (and long overdue in my opinion) Killian Massey is no longer the victim, the damsel in distress, the whimperi...... - well.......technically he's still a whimpering coward but to a lesser extent and you know what? I FUCKING LOVE IT!! This new and improved character's reduced flaws causes some tension in his relationship with Reaver and ultimately leads to a fallout so fucking huge that all a reader can do is scream.......
In this Volume we also learn new truths about Killian, which I can't really say I'm too shocked over because I always knew his ass was mental. In the next part I guess we'll see how this news affects the rest of Reaver and Killian's relationship (if there even is a relationship anymore). Oh boy......I'm not sure I even wanna know.
This was so fucked up, I can't even believe I finished this. This whole family is a mess and here I am enjoying their despair. It was so........I'm like judging myself right now. What kinda person am I for reading and enjoying this twisted horror of literature?
So I was lucky enough to get asked to beta read this book and, as anyone who's read my previous reviews for the series can guess, I was over the goddamn moon at this.
It's always going to be tricky following up a book as brilliant as The Ghost and the Darkness; so much has happened that it's easy to forget that this is only book three of the series proper. This is, in part, due to the fact that the author chooses to release a companion novel for each novel proper. (An ingenious move, I might add: it serves both to give breathing space to the main novels, explores character's in greater depth, shows us some much-needed backstory and lets him seed plot developments and drop hints which his fans WILL spend months poring over.)
The book begins immediately where The Ghost and the Darkness left off; Reaver and Killian, recuperating from the trauma they both experienced, come into contact with a new threat in the plaguelands, and find themselves drawn to the mysterious town of Melchai- a town run by a cult and led by the Man on the Hill. Elish and the others make their way back to Skyfall but their return is anything but pleasant; caring for his vegetative husband, Elish finds himself sinking to lows he never thought possible. Reno, having lost his two best friends, finds comfort only with Silas, while SIlas himself is too depressed to get out of bed most of the time, let alone run his kingdom.
That's seriously as deep as I can go into the story without spoiling it and, believe me, this isn't a book you want spoiled for you. I cried, I laughed, I cringed. Some of the imagery here is horrific even by the standards we've come to expect in the series, but that only makes the emotions all the more striking; the brief moments of happiness all the more heartwarming. Carter's an expert when it comes to heartfelt emotions and creating complex character's, and here we get to see them sink to their lowest points.
As for the character's, we get to see more and more sides to each one, and we get to see them in new lights. Reno and Silas is a pairing I never thought would work- let alone this well- but their relationship is one of the greatest parts of the book, and their growing friendship casts their relationships with the others in a new light. Elish and Reaver both show more vulnerability than they ever have before, while Killian shows a more reckless, forthright side of his personality; character's who've spent the majority of the series on the sidelines are thrown into the spotlight; new villains and heroes emerge, but the beauty of the series is that you're never quite sure which is which.
There honestly aren't enough good things to say about this book. If you've fallen in love with the series by now then rest assured that it answers a lot of the questions you no doubt have, and asks more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
For the first time in my life, the best of a book is not a character or a scene, it is a whole spectrum.
When we start the book we found worlds falling apart, rotting wounds consuming all body, wrecked men, hopeless dreams and battles impossible to win, but some decisions had to be taken, and they were the best choices these men could have made.
I do believe we can improve forgiving ourselves and those who had hurt us, but that is a hard process and needs some steps, so the fact that Reaver, Reno, Elish and Silas started that process made my year.
In this book we see some of those steps: 1. Realizing that there are issues that stop my happiness and how much damage they have done. (Reaver thinking he was broken, Elish admitting his dependency towards Jade, Reno claiming he is a shadow of his former self, etc) 2. Looking for the root of evil (Elish and Reaver asking themselves when, why and how they become that way) 3. Gaining strength to face the malign factor (Reaver seeing Nero, Reno accepting Silas’ call) 4. Deciding they need to forgive and work weakness into strength (Reno was the only one doing this sanely, Reaver tried and Elish failed XD)
So, for this humble counselor, reading this was a delightful adventure. I’ve always knew Quil can create great characters, but this was la crème de la crème of human dynamics. Congratulations mister Carter.
The worst
It was too short ;)
Now, seriously, just little details I find weird.
For example: some chimeras are extraordinary intelligent and other seems not so much. Theo was found by Gage and the last said Jade is alive and that he can cure him, also that he was encase in concrete for decades, and just like that Theo believed him and even went with him to an abandoned building; this decision is believable if is it was an immortal chimera or even a normal person, but I found hard that Theo, a legion chimera, someone mortal trusts a stranger easily, and even more one that was punished by his master long time ago. Gage does not know why he was encased and he seems harmless, but he is still an immortal with weird eyes and so called skills. I would watch my back, especially because there are princes dying around.
The ugliest
I foolishly thought that I had come to terms with innocent people dying out of any chimera’s rage, for it was something bothering me since Breaking Jade, but Kiki’s death hit me hard. Actually, I was in denial until two days after finished, I was trying to take it cool, but I can’t. Kiki was a character that had more balls in three chapters that some characters in five books, and the last thing he did was plead for that Reaver bastard, yeah, now he is that Reaver bastard XD
This is for you baby
My poor raccoon did a great job surviving Nero and the rest of the family, the greywastes, Adler’s reign of horror and Killian’s jealousy, just to be murdered without grace. I wasn’t this upset since Trig dying in Reno’s arms, but this is a new feeling of indignation because that was an accident, this wasn’t.
The hottest
Oh Nero… you will definitely kill me one of these days. Nero and Reaver’s “first time” was sinfully hot and it got better when Reaver tasted the perk of being a bottom. Don’t you love when there is “enemies to lovers” scenarios? Because I do ;)
The funniest
I don’t know why I found Elish as a very funny character. He does not intend to be funny like Reno, but keep making comments that makes me laugh a lot. Priceless were the scenes of Elish playing Pokemon, interacting with ravers and mouthing Jade’s non existing math skills.
The saddest
My heart broke when I thought Luca was dead. But, fortunately, there are more scenes to cry about!
This was a difficult choice since I cried in several scenes. Nevertheless, proving my point of how forgiveness was important in this volume I have to go with Silas calling for Reno and the last staying. I found Reno’s feeding the depressed King an extraordinary scene that completely broke my heart. Such scene was beautifully sad, intimate and, despite being short, showed how strong is the bond uniting them, non in a romantic way, but more like two protagonist of the same tragedy.
Bonuses
-I don’t find Killi Cat dark side amusing or weird; I see it as a product of a very violent coming of age. Killian might be Silas clone, but that do not define all his personality. Pure and kind Killian is who he really is, the other side is his way to fight again his feelings of hopelessness and part of his adaption to being immortal and alone with Reaver. He is young and fragile, and when he got sick of crying, released his negative feelings in a different way, and, of course, being by Reaver side always teaches him dark manners. He could get better learning from other people, like in Aras with Doc and Leo, but for now it’s just the Reaper, so it’s better to get used to this side and I bet it will get worse if they don’t settle down soon.
-Sanguine’s cult arc was awesome and creepy, like Sanguine himself.
- It is truly incredible Nero’s devotion to Silas, seriously. When he is with Ceph and Kiki in peace, away from the King that has caused him too much sorrow, he suddenly thinks: “Oh I’m going to tell him Adler is here so he can be happy and I can go back to his grace” instead of “fuck him, he can suffer a little more” XD it is just like Kiki said: Nero forgives quickly.
-I miss Perish. I miss Perish. I miss Perish. I miss Perish. I miss Perish. I miss Perish. I miss Perish. I miss Perish. I miss Perish. I miss Perish. I. MISS. PERISH
-Unexpectedly, I ship RenoXSilas more than AdlerXAsher, knowing that the last on is more likely to be canon and forever, and that the first will left Garret boyfriendless again XD But, Go, Adler, Go!! my King deserves some romance
-I find Reaver hitting Killian really upsetting. I don’t like abusive relationships. Come on, I hate Sky for that very reason and the dude has been dead all the time ¬¬ and that’s the main reason why I hate Elish.
-How much Leo and Greyson are needed here *sigh*
-You know you have read too much Fallocaust when you read a rape scene like Adler’s and you feel nothing.
- Did I mention I was a scratchy mess while reading proxies scenes?
-Luca you are the most badass kitten ever.
-Drakonius I love your name and I love you.
-But I love Quil Carter more.
Congratulations.
-Hey… wait… Ares… cried… Even Ares cried with this book!!! *realizes after finishing the review*
That was one hell of a ride! 😱 This really is officially the best book in the whole series despite the fact that I hate Reaver now. Yup, I hate him for how he treated Killian. From the moment I started reading the book, all the action, drama and fucked up stuff just didn't stop. Each chapter taught you a little more about the plot and it was fun to read how my assumptions turned out happening in the story. 🤭 My baby Sanguine's story became clearer. Not only that, but there were more new characters in it and the ones I hated, I started to love and the ones I loved, I started to hate. Strange, I know. Quil is a master at fucking your brain up and your love for the characters. My heart bleeds for certain couples. 💔 And with other couples, I want them to break up because of the way they treat each other. One of them is my number one couple. New mutated animals have also been introduced that are terrifyingly scary af fuck, giving me the creeps. The end of the book left my mouth open. I MUST know what's going to happen next! I thought I'd take a little break from this world to read a shorter book and a slightly less stressful one, but I'm afraid I can't. I'm doomd. 😵
Ok, hands up all who wanted to bitch slap Reaver throughout.
Remember how a the end of volume 2 Reaver and Killian got to ride off into the sunset and we thought they would live happily ever after.... Not!
I lost my faith in Reaver completely in this book.His actions made me really question if he ever loved Killian at all. He spent the whole book treating him worse than the dirt at the bottom of his shoe. The level of physical and mental abuse he inflicted on Killian was shocking. Their relationship is pushed to extremes and I see no way back for them. In the final pages my heart broke for Killian I felt his pain and I cried with him. I completely understand his decision to walk away.
Quil is a very good writer and I say this beacause I have read a lot of books and I have never seen anyone else develop their characters as well as he does. I mean in volume, 1 Silas was the mad bad evil King who ended the world and had to die, but slowly throughout the books you learn to actually sympathise with him. By the end of this book I was like awwww stop tormenting him just give him back Sky for crying out loud.
*Spoilers* Was I the only one who had a hard time getting my head around the fact that Killian was Silas's clone? I felt that there was an issue with continuity here. Boy does Elish have a lot to answer for. I love all the twists and turns in these books even though they give me heart attacks.
I loved the first Fallocaust book and the next two after that, and was waiting on this for quite awhile. Unfortunately, I get the feeling this book kind of went the way of hype that most popular things get? What with inside jokes, and sometimes, bordering on lack of editing to get it out in time because you want to please the fans and they won't care. I felt like 20-30% of this book could've been cut due to repetition. Also, you pretty much have to read the companion books to get this one, as opposed to not needing to for the first three.
My (personal) issues with this book: 1) Grammar. 2) Pet names. Holy fucking shit pet names for everybody. 3) I get that the chimeras are supposed to be engineered a certain way, but I just couldn't get over how much Reaver wanted to fuck Nero and Kiki after his abuse. Like yeah, it's a power thing, whatever. I dunno. I'm not huge on what I would consider infidelity, and this was it for me. Near the end of the book, Reaver and Nero even have a fuckfest. Sigh. I really, really miss Reaver looking out for only his KIlli Cat.
really emotionally vulnerable thoughts below, read at your own risk. spoiler free ✌️
I can't rate this book and I've gone back and forth adding a review because 1, who cares? two people follow my account. and 2, I have so many mixed emotions I can't even follow them properly. It's been over a week since I finished, and I still feel completely and utterly betrayed. There are some things that are just so morally reprehensible that they're unforgivable. And when a character you've been rooting for, for thousands pages, betrays that trust? There's no hurt like it. I feel utterly changed by this book but not in a way that makes me better about who I am at my core, but worse. I feel like reading this book has made me a worse person. And why would I post that for the Internet to see and comment on?
I am always rooting for the redemption arcs and actually wish for them sooooo badly in many fandoms with hated characters. But I don't trust the author to take me there. I want to believe that there is some goodness in the Fallocaust world and that surviving horrific circumstances doesn't turn everyone into their own worst nightmare but this book turned me into an untrusting, angry, and hurt reader. I'm struggling to comprehend why the story is going this direction - veritable war crimes being rationalized as just being a natural behavior, the most depraved acts of brutality being justified in the eyes of every single character. I don't like feeling that as a reader. I don't want to root for depravity, but that choice was taken from me when our antihero turned into an unforgivable monster. I'm grieving. I feel grief for having the belief that rape, murder, torture, mutilation, and so much more, are acceptable behaviors forced upon me.
But in that grief I think, maybe I'm not a worse person. Maybe the grief I feel is its own evidence that that I still have compassion. And maybe I should thank reading for the ability to remind myself that that's something I won't allow to be taken from me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
О господи Боже МОЙ!!! Я сейчас захлебнусь от эмоций! Моё сердце (бедное и измученное) разбито в дребезги, даже не знаю, как описать... Нет слов. Зачем?! Зачем я стала это читать. Отвратительно. Мерзко. Больно. Пожалуйста, если есть хоть какая-то справедливость... Если хоть сколько-то положительной кармы, заработанной мной за написание собственных текстов.... УМОЛЯЮ! Хэппи энд! Иначе я сдохну.
The brilliance continues! I will never get enough of this incredibly damaged, disturbing and intriguing world with it's damaged, disturbing and intriguing characters.