Fate of the Fallen (Shroud of Prophecy, #1)

by Kel Kade

Fate of the Fallen is the start of a brand new adventure from New York Times bestselling author Kel Kade

Not all stories have happy endings.

Everyone loves Mathias. Naturally, when he discovers it’s his destiny to save the world, he dives in head first, pulling his best friend Aaslo along for the ride.

However, saving the world isn’t as easy, or exciting, as it sounds in the stories. The going gets rough and folks start to believe their best chance for survival is to surrender to the forces of evil, which isn’t how the prophecy goes. At all. As the list of allies grows thin, and the friends find themselves staring death in the face they must decide how to become the heroes they were destined to be or, failing that, how to survive.

• ISBN10: 1250293790
• ISBN13: 9781250293794
• Publish Date: 1 December 2019 (first published 12 November 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 6 September 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Fate of the Fallen is the first book in a new series by Kel Kade. Released 5th Nov 2019 by Macmillan on their Tor imprint, it's 352 pages and available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats.

I thought this was going to be a standard epic quest 'chosen' one series. It's emphatically not that. I loved that the author basically took a large axe to the standard narrative trope within the first few chapters and the rest of the book was an interesting exploration of what happens when the 'one true prophecy' is lost?

The author has a strong and readable voice in her narrative. The plotting and tension arc are impressive. The characters are well drawn and the technical aspects of the writing are very well controlled. The author can certainly write. This book has been difficult to review because I don't write spoilers into my reviews (even with spoiler warnings) which means even a general precis is out of the question. I'll just say that I enjoyed the heck out of this one, I fully intend to search out the following book(s), and in fact, I intend to search out some of the author's other books.

Four stars. Strong story and engaging characters, creepy antagonists and monsters, and even a touch of humor.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[tweetybugshouse]

This is a delightful tale that takes the common trope the chosen one will save the world and turns it on head by saying what if the chosen one were killed before they saved the world. This trope is one that is often in my opinion overplayed and is usually very predictable. It works and has been used over and over to tell a story. Usually what makes it work for me are the companions that are rounded up to help said chosen one save the world.
In this version though the chosen one is killed off very early in the book and the non chosen one chooses to take up his quest. Asalo was just along for the ride, has no desire to be the hero, and is told repeatedly that he will not succeed. Mathias the chosen one ends up coming along for the ride in a bag and at times is the comic relief in a story that could be very bleak.
The band of characters in this new trilogy are quite the group, you have the thieves who are very bad at being thieves peck and morty, you have a horse named dolt who does not like to go left and has his own opinion on how things are going to play out, and of course death makes an appearance as Myropia the reaper.
The author really calls it home with the world building there not a moment in the story where i was confused about where we were or that i could not picture. This is a five star read and i am eager to read the next book i got to know does the non chosen one really save the world or are we all doomed?