Ryan Cahill

The Fall

When Ryan Cahill said in his forewords he was a « world builder to the core » it was no joke. I have started the first instalment Of Blood and Fire a few years back and enjoyed quite a lot as it took all the classic aspect of high fantasy we love so much but with a modern voice. Didn’t I know it was just the start of something quite epic, I liked the world building and now with this 87p novella I’m just utterly impressed by what the author has built for his story. The follow up promises to be epic and I really hope. I guess I just need to find out 🫣

Also Aeson is that you ? How are you 400 yo ?? 👀

Amira BEN

When Ryan Cahill said in his forewords he was a « world builder to the core » it was no joke. I have started the first instalment Of Blood and Fire a few years back and enjoyed quite a lot as it took all the classic aspect of high fantasy we love so much but with a modern voice. Didn’t I know it was just the start of something quite epic, I liked the world building and now with this 87p novella I’m just utterly impressed by what the author has built for his story. The follow up promises to be epic and I really hope. I guess I just need to find out 🫣

Also Aeson is that you ? How are you 400 yo ?? 👀

kayla 

Wow.. wow. This is 100% the best novella I’ve ever read and I can’t wait to pick up the rest of the series. I truly don’t know how a 96 page book almost made me cry three separate times but I’m here for it. The writing was phenomenal, the world building (the dragons) was just so.. wow.

E J Doble

A snappy, action packed Novella with intimately-written characters and a very powerful story - a lot of the descriptive elements feel a bit robotic in places, but that doesn't take away from the breadth and scale of what's been written. Oh, and there's dragons... need I say more.

C. J. Daley 

I got this as an added bonus attached to Of Blood and Fire’s audiobook, so naturally I had to continue right into it. 

I think something this novella does really well is the perspectives. In this sense, it’s giving you the lives of four individuals during the fall of the dragon order. Therefore, it’s not 100 pages of lore and world building dump, it’s actually showing you through the eyes of people there (and maybe a face or two we already know?). In such a short span of time the author packs such a heavy punch. The amount of heart in this one is crazy for it’s size. It also does a very good job of distancing itself from the others of its kind that people relate it to. This one to me read as it’s own entity entirely. 

If I had one gripe it would be that with it being short, I still didn’t feel like this told one single concise story. I’m still not entirely sure what happened to the order, nor do I really know what caused its fall, nor do I really further understand the villain yet. But there is another novella incoming that I saw, so perhaps that’ll continue on the background lore. 

Worth your time, effort, or money to read or listen! The audio quality is great!

Lia Yuliana

Update 25/10/2021

Find my reviews on :  An Ode to Fiction
Self Pub Release Date : July 2021
Get the book for FREE by signing up for Ryan Cahill's mailing list :
 Author Website 

4/5 ⭐️


  
    “All great things require sacrifice.”
  


The Fall is a modern take of a classic fantasy story of dragons, elves, magic, and a crumbling city that is FREE and packs a punch!

The Fall is the companion novella for Ryan Cahill's self published The Bound and the Broken series. This book is recommended to me by my friend Petrik Reads when I was looking for something short to read. Before hand I've never read any book by Ryan Cahill but I've seen his books floating around the SFF book blogger community. Petrik did a great job at selling this book to me, he said "dragons, a siege, elves, free book" and I was sold. Based on the rating it is clear that I enjoyed everything about it! This novella is available for FREE on the authors website, all you need to do is sign up for their mailing list and you can download the book right away.


  
    “Pain is the path to strength.”
  


The story is set 400 years before the events in Of Blood and Fire, which is the first book in The Bound and Broken series in the middle of a siege as we follow four different perspectives. In the City of Ilnaen everything is in chaos, blood and gore litter the streets as battle ensues at every corner. I will not talk about the characters because that will pretty much spoil the story. The only thing I will mention regarding characters is Ryan Cahill's amazing characterization and ability to pack in a lot of noteworthy moments between characters that stunned me could be contained in this 95 page novella. The book starts off running and it keeps on running as the plot picks up as we follow different characters at different parts of the city from different backgrounds and stations. My favorite has got to be the second character POV that we follow. All I have to say he is the most glorious character that left a huge impression on me. 

The Fall is a classic fantasy story that is written in a more modern approach that I find fascinating and addictive. Though I have to admit after 30 pages I had to put it down because I got distracted by a different book I finished the last 65 pages in one sitting. Being set in a city there isn't a need to do much world building but again Ryan Cahill still managed to condense the world and magic into this book which is impressive. Cahill's prose is accessible, detailed, and magnetic. The battle scenes in this story is vivid, alluring, and explosive that I could not get enough of it. The emotional moments are also delivered with depth and carried a lot of weight that left me devastated.


  
    “Vengeance. It was as good a reason as any. Vengeance could stir a rebellion, push people to do things beyond what they ever thought they could. But could it support an empire?”
  


Final thoughts, The Fall is the perfect novella with thoughtful and detailed world building compelling characters and all round well balance fantasy story that is short enough to peak your interest into Ryan Cahill's epic fantasy series. I loved everything about this short novella and will very likely pick up Cahill's full length novels to go back into the world of The Bound and the Broken. I highly recommend for readers who are fans of the classic fantasy stories with dragons, elves, demons, etc but want a more modern voice to pick this book up. For a D&D fan like me this book is perfect to fill my need of an epic with the classic fantasy tropes that I've long searched. Let's just say I'm a new fan of Ryan Cahill and I'm looking forward to his other works.

Sahi K

I have only heard great things about the author’s debut novel and this prequel novella and while they don’t feel like the exact kind of books I enjoy, I still felt compelled to give this one a try first. And I’m glad my attempt wasn’t in vain. 

Sitting at less than 100 pages, this novella is pretty small but it’s very surprising how much of the story the author is able to tell in such few pages, without losing the essence of this series - which is very traditional epic fantasy with dragons and Mages. I’m not someone who gravitate towards these books despite loving fantasy with all my heart, mostly because I prefer more emotionally engaging fantasies written by women and/or queer authors. However, I found this very action packed right from page one style of storytelling a bit refreshing, because I haven’t read something like this for a long while now. The action, the tension, the sense of loss and despair and betrayal - none of these let up right from the beginning of the story, just making us feel one thing after another, letting us sink into this very gritty world on the day it’s whole foundation crumbles - it’s the end of an era and the beginning of a new empire, but we are left to wonder who is on the right and was it all worth it. 

I throughly enjoyed this short tale giving us the devastating truth behind the origins of this world, and I can’t wait to see what the author has in store for us in the first book of the series, which is set a few centuries later. I’m definitely excited for more action and ofcourse, dragons.

The Fall

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