The Queen of All that Dies (The Fallen World Book 1)

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.The Queen of All that Dies (The Fallen World #1) -What. Just. Happened.You know, I read Pestilence by Laura Thalassa this year and thought I had struck gold… in a deep book slump I puttered along reading a few books afterwards that I couldn’t finish… then I decided to see what other books Laura had under her belt. Why didn’t I do that sooner??!?!?! Don’t get me wrong, I am all in for the Horsemen series and am trying to wait patiently for War to come out but my goodness do I think this book blew them out of the water!I’ve noticed in my obsession with reading all different types of books within the romance genre that I collect favorite authors and in doing so pick my favorite things about those said authors… Well with Laura Thalassa (I’m now a super fan) it is the way she write the female lead. I am left speechless on how she does it but it is unlike any other books I’ve read. To give you an example, it is the spectrum of Bella Swan to Diana Bishop. Not to slam Twilight (I mean, I get it, I watched the movies and understand the Edward appeal, although I was more of a Jasper girl myself) but Bella Swan is not an interesting or remotely enjoyable character to read about. She’s pretty annoying and I found myself not interested in her one bit. But again, I get it, she fit that story arch… On the flip side, Diana Bishop of The Discovery of Witches is the bomb! Her main squeeze, Matthew is all kinds of yummy but Diana holds her own and you are drawn to everything she is about. Serenity Freeman is a Diana, not a Bella…I don’t want to put spoilers in this or drag on about how wonderful this book was but in the end, IT WAS. I had to force myself to stop and review this before I jump into the next book… The Queen of Traitors. This book is buck wild! I was shocked several times at the turn of events that happened and couldn’t map out what direction I thought the story would go to save my life. It isn’t predictable in the slightest. Made me feel like when I watch Game of Thrones (no, I haven’t read the books) and they kill off the main character in the first episode or so but they don’t stop there… no one is safe!Not to mention, the alpha male in this, King Montes Lazuli flips the script big time! Starting the book I thought to myself, this is gonna be the worst and there is no way I’m going to like this guy… I didn’t know what the author was trying to pull with this evil incarnate character… and then *sigh*. You just have to read it and you won’t be sorry.If I could give this book 6-stars I would! Thank you, Laura Thalassa… You have helped make 2019 a great year with your wonderful imagination! Now off the next one…

I'm not totally sure on my feelings for this book; it was a quick read and I was fascinated by it, but otherwise I'm sort of shell-shocked by it, and am not wholly sure what to think.Though I will be upfront and say that there are several things vastly wrong with the relationship between Serenity and Montes: 1) the wicked age gap, for one (yeah she's 19 and technically an adult, but any man who's over 60 and has interest in a 19 year old doesn't have especially decent intentions) 2) the immense power-imbalance (he's king of the world and way older... it's legitimately an unhealthy relationship because if nothing else his position of power and greater maturity/age will cause them to never truly be equals), 3) Serenity isn't exactly the most emotionally stable, mentally-well individual and is clearly dealing with a lot of trauma as a result of all the death and decay and war she's lived in, so she's in a position to be taken advantage of emotionally. 4) The king pretty much extorted a relationship, marriage, and sex out of her through force and dangling the fate of her country in front of her.My only comfort, I suppose, is that the author did make her 19 and not 16. But to be perfectly honest, I'd have rather her been in her mid to late twenties. I think I could support the romance more if she wasn't so young still. Yeah she's a solider and had to mature fast, but the brain isn't even fully developed in a human until they're in their twenties and I can tell you from experience that between the ages of 19 and 21 I've definitely matured and grown up more just like I had in my teens.When I dive into these genres, I try see it for what it is: a story full of wrongdoings and darkness and bad things and people not necessarily seeing them as bad and wrong, such as the king not fully grasping that he's pretty predatory and the damage of holding extreme power over one's partner and Serenity not fully realizing the ways in which she's being taken advantage of. The author definitely makes you want to believe in the love and redemption of the couple, but I always keep it at the forefront of my mind that this relationship has a bad start and that it has obvious flaws due to the reasons listed above. As the one review stated, this romance is a bit ethically lacking and I hope that readers will remember these things as they read and not totally support the king just because he's not totally lacking in feelings or the ability to be kind or affectionate. I know, I was pulled in a few times too, but readers, remember that good and evil aren't just black and white and that dark grey is still much closer to black than it is to white.As for the rest of the story, I'm curious about the war and how the world has changed. I think all the fighting scenes were well executed and I want to see more political maneuvering in the next two books. How does the world get rebuilt? What does the resistance do? How does the king consolidate his power? What roles will Serenity play? I was a little disappointed that the whole "take over the world" bit how the wars began and allt that didn't get a whole lot of attention in this book. Seems like it would have been an important chunk of back story, but with two more books perhaps it'll get touched on more.The writing was well done and this kindle edition was pretty well edited; I only noticed maybe 1 or 2 punctuation errors (extra period, missing quotation mark). I think this author definitely possesses a lot of skill and while her story isn't making the activist in me radiate approval or the romantic in me root for love to conquer all, I am quite drawn into it and want to see what happens from here on out. Despite the flaws in the characters, I still retain hope for redemption and goodness in this book. The last book I read that was on the darker end of the spectrum was so full of horrible people and horrible things and horrible thoughts and nothing worth salvaging that I got exhausted and disgusted and vowed I'd never get book #2. But this time... I'm definitely looking into book #2 and #3. I have high expectations.

This is like the Hunger Games if the whole country was like district 13! What a great read! Loved the cliffhanger ending and I can’t wait to read more!

Oh, I really wanted to like this book, I really did.I really like the idea behind the book, but not the execution. The story did a lot of flashbacks, which don't really bother me because I love to know characters history to understand them better. The flashbacks however fell flat for me. They were supposed to flesh out our lead female, Serenity, but were confusing to me because her present day character was not on the same pathway. She had a very divided personality and was the real glaring reason why I just didn't like this story. I skimmed over the last third just to know what happened and was left at a cliffhanger and can't bring myself to buy the next one.Serenity, for someone who has grown up before her time in a world of violence, at 19, acts like a penchulent child that needs a whoopin'. She's a brat that has tantrums throughout the whole story, was unbearably immature, and whiney. She is supposedly this war hardened fighter, but my gawd she was so whiney. There is the element of her sickness and all the loss she's experienced that is there to make you feel for her, but I feel for all the real adults that have to deal with her ignorance.I could not fathom why a grown man would look at her, which who even really knows what she looks like because she was severely nondescript with her features, with that attitude. She's an unrelatable shrew and I felt zero chemistry between her and the lead male.The story had a lot of potential. It bounced around the child's tantrums too much to really flesh out the state of the current world beyond this is what it is and that's that. I've loved other novels by this author and this just isn't one of them.

This is the third series I have started of hers. I love her writing and suspense. The characters are relatable and show the struggle of true enemies to lovers.

I loved this book!! There is a lot of action going on, and I loved the hate-lobe relationship. I will read the second ASAP!!

Ich fand vor allem den Beginn sehr gelungen, bin auf die weiteren Teile gespannt. nur das ding mit seinem Alter war recht creepy, vor allem, dass es ihr so egal war.

I've been in a bit of a reading slump recently. I'd picked up and put down so many books over the last few months that I wasn't sure if I was ever going to find something I really enjoyed. I wanted that perfect balance of a badass female lead, intriguing plot, OMG moments and a bit of male eyecandy on the side.This book brought all of that and so much more. This was completely unexpected.It was a book that kept coming up in my recommend reading and it was something that I just brushed over. When I tried and failed to find something decent to read, I found myself coming to The Queen of All that Dies. Like others, the description didn't feel like something I would read. Kings, Queens and war just didn't really appeal to me, but I took a chance, wanting to try something new and exciting. The reviews were great, so I gave it a go.This book did not disappoint.I couldn't put it down. From beginning to end I found myself on the edge of my seat, staying up all hours of the night until I finished it. The characters are amazing. Serenity is everything I look for in a lead female role. She is strong, independent, badass, smart and intelligent. Yes, she has her flaws, but that only makes her more relatable. I found myself cracking a smile at some of her comments and feeling her pain during some of the more heart-felt moments of this story. The King is another brilliant character, who I flip between loving or hating with each chapter. He is unpredictable and mysterious, making him the perfect anti-hero. I just couldn't help but slowly warm to him.The plot has so many twists and turns! It isn't so much that I was left confused, but enough to keep me on my toes and the thought that anything could happen. At one point, something serious is revealed about Serenity and her personal secret...I was completely knocked for six! I couldn't believe it and that's what made this book so brilliant. I loved the ending as well, setting itself up perfectly for the second book, which I will be reading straightaway!Overall, I would highly recommend this to anyone. Seriously, it was brilliant and I can't wait to see what the rest of the series has to offer!

I enjoyed this book. I will foe sure read the rest in the series. I love Serenity. She is a great FMC. She is strong, and Fiesta as well as broken and vulnerable. The king I also like but there are parts to his personality I'm not a fan of. I'm all for morally grey but I guess I like morally grey with integrity? The morally grey that kills to protect , the morally grey that is on a journey of revenge kinda thing. The king is not that. He is just greedy. How the war started... makes me like him less. However his love for Serenity redeems him a bit foe me so I feel like I can read the rest of the books. And the story itself is great. Laura is an amazing story teller and writer.