Heavily Reliant on a Sequel

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shradha rawat Avatar

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In a kingdom slowly being leached of magic, the heroes will be people ignorant of their own power. Four queer teens, navigating the struggles of their sexuality, gender identity, and racial prejudice must find out how they are connected in order to restore wonder and order to River City. How they do that is the story of "We All Fall Down." I think. Honestly, I am not too sure myself.

Rose Szabo starts things off with a bang in this book, with a fantastic and intriguing prologue, an amazing first half rife with character development and fleshed out relationships. But the longer the book goes on, the more you realize how much is left out of the story. For example, the magic system is not quite fully explained. There are hints here and there, with mentions of the importance of "maiden" and a "hero," but it's never fully explained what that importance is, and how some of the characters have been/might be picked for this role.

Furthermore, there is one instance where a main character (that we are supposed to be rooting for) actively subverts the progressive themes of resisting racial profiling and prejudice to the detriment of another character. This is treated relatively lightly until nearly the end, and we don't get to see much of a redemptive arc before this first book is over.

I understand this book is supposed to be part one of a duology, and it may be that Szabo will expand and correct these issues in the second part, so I am willing to give it two stars instead of one in deference to that. But as it currently stands, "We All Fall Down" has a lot to be desired for what started out as an amazing YA read.