(Note: I received this novel as an ARC from Angry Robot Books, through Netgalley.)
Morningside Fall, by Jay Posey, is what you can call a good reading, no matter if you are (as I am) a hard SF lover and don’t enjoy fantasy a great deal. But if you ever decide you are in for some slightly different flavour in your Sci-Fi diet, you should definitively give this author a chance. Are you instead more SFF eclectic? Well, go for it straight away. You won’t regret the experience.
The plot is straight-forward: in a post-apocalyptic world, the city of Morningside and its young governor, Wren, are under assault, by an internal (and unknown) enemy and by zombie-like creatures from the outside. How the boy, his mother and his team of protectors will handle this threat is the story of the book.
There are a series of things I liked in Morningside Fall. First of all, even if it is the number two of a series, Legends of the Duskwalker, you can enjoy it even without having read Three, the first one and the debut novel of Posey. That’s worth some praise – it is simply too easy to force readers to get them the entire series by make them unable to enjoy any other instalments. This is not the case here. Said that, I certainly advise you to get the first one. The novel itself is great, and the main character, Three, captivating.
Second, the atmosphere of the whole story, the description of town, the suspense accurately build toward the final and some of the action scenes are page-turning, sometimes creepy and always enjoyable. It has been observed in some reviews I had a look at – http://rjblain.com/2014/04/review-morningside-fall-by-jay-posey-angry-robot-science-fantasy/, for example – that Wren looks sometimes too mature for his young age (8 years) and that he’s not always believable. I tend to disagree on this point – the character is credible and an interesting mix of wisdom and childish naivete. You may not like him as a hero – but believable he is.
What I can observe instead is that I would have liked some more emphasis on the dark side of the force – i.e., the enemies in this story. The overall narration would have certainly gained a lot in pathos, making it even more powerful. If there is one single thing this novel lacks, especially if you compare it to its prequel, is a clear hero, like Three (the character) certainly was. This is why people generally found Three (the book) superior – it is a feeling, and due more to the great quality of Three than to any deficiency of Morningside Fall.
Looking around – http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18283002-morningside-fall – I have found out I was not the only one with a “hero missing feeling” regarding this book, which leaves readers less happy that they could otherwise be with such a good story. At a better analysis, Asher (no spoiler here, so I won’t tell anything about him) would have truly qualified for it – by having, for example, more space devoted to his character and to his role (a central one anyway). So, here it is an easy recipe for a great action story: If you don’t give your readers a true hero, give them somebody at least as good to hate.
But maybe not everything’s lost. I do expect a sequel here. And I do hope Asher will show what really nasty monster is capable to be, for the enjoyment of us all.
This book definitely lacked a ‘hero’ or main focus point and for me this brought the book down a little. I definitely preferred the first. But, that being said, I will still read the next as I would like to see where the story goes.
Lynn 😀
Entirely in agreement. I’m curious too to see how it ends up. Good expectations though, the villain seems promising…!