Early Review – We All Fall Down (River City Duology, Book 1) by Rose Szabo (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Length: 416 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN-13: 978-0374314323
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the River City Duology
Source: eGalley from NetGalley
Rating: 4/5 stars
“In River City, where magic used to thrive and is now fading, the witches who once ruled the city along with their powerful King have become all but obsolete. The city’s crumbling government is now controlled primarily by the new university and teaching hospital, which has grown to take over half of the city.
Moving between the decaying Old City and the ruthless New, four young queer people struggle with the daily hazards of life—work, school, dodging ruthless cops and unscrupulous scientists—not realizing that they have been selected to play in an age-old drama that revives the flow of magic through their world. When a mysterious death rocks their fragile peace, the four are brought into each other’s orbits as they uncover a deeper magical conspiracy.”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the River City duology. I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley to review.
Thoughts: Previous to reading this book I had read Szabo’s “What Big Teeth” and enjoyed that. I was excited to see what Szabo would write next. This was a very enjoyable read as well. Szabo is a little out there with subject matter and characters, but I really enjoy authors that are a bit different and take some risks with their stories.
I loved the world created in River City. It is separate from our world and was protected by magic but the magic is gone now and the modern day world has been slowly creeping in. The characters here are all very well done too. There is a lot of gender-bending, which may annoy some readers. I personally just kind of stopped keeping track of pronouns; they are all just people. The way Szabo handles this it never gets confusing who is who; they have very distinct voices and it’s easy to track whose POV we are reading from. All of the characters have a lot of depth and are fun to read about.
I really enjoyed the way the story is set up and told. The magic fell because of a curse and, as the key figures of the curse (The Hero, The King, The Maiden, The Monster) rise in the city again, there are those who hope to break the curse that is holding River City and those who seek to take advantage of it. Our characters have no idea of their roles and how they play into this larger picture.
Additionally, I thought the ending was a perfect place to stop this story, especially since this is a duology. I thoroughly enjoy Szabo’s writing style. It flows well, is descriptive, somewhat humorous at times, and is very easy to read. I never struggled to stay interested in the story or to read this book. It was a very nice change from some other mediocre books I have read recently.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I really loved this book and am looking forward to reading the second book in the trilogy. This book is a bit different and so is the subject matter. However, I loved the traditional fairy tale themes to it, with curses to be broken and characters with fairy tale-esque roles to play. I love Szabo’s writing style; it flows well and has excellent description throughout. The characters are quirky and interesting, the world of River City is intriguing and I enjoyed the uniqueness of this a lot. Szabo is becoming a go to author for me when I am in the mood for something dark fantasy but different.
