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A review by shhchar
All Fall Down by Ally Carter
4.0
Initial thoughts:
This cover is interesting.
Review:
What can I say, Ally Carter has done it again. She's made a unique protagonist, Grace, battling against herself and sources that are trying to stop her.
All Fall Down takes place on Embassy Row in a fictional country. It deals with politics, the different masks that people wear, and of course, an underlying death/revenge story. Throughout the book, Grace has PTSD recollections of witnessing her mother's death. The book goes on to develop that "origin" story which is the thread that keeps it going.
Grace has replaced Cammie from Gallagher Girls as my second favorite Carter protagonist (Kat from Heist Society still takes #1.) I was hesitant going in that Grace would be a carbon copy of one or the other, but she had different characteristics and tendencies. Her psychological trauma is written very realistically and absolutely nothing about it was glorified.
The supporting characters in this novel were superb. I loved Noah from the second he marched in and declared himself best friend. Megan wasn't just a throwaway ex-friend character; she came into her own and had her own reasons for helping out. Rosie still remains a mystery that I hope will be further explained, but I love her nonetheless.
Alexei seemed rather undeveloped and absent for most of the book to deserve a spot in the book flap synopsis. Which may have been a good thing, because I feel like a strong love interest would have gotten in the way of Grace taking charge. There are still more books coming to remedy this fact. The other drawback to All Fall Down is that Carter's books are always very short and in large(r) print. I was hoping All Fall Down would have more to it, but I don't know why I was expecting that.
If you want an action-filled story with a strong female protagonist (and by strong I mean complex and multilayered, not just physically powerful) then read All Fall Down.
This cover is interesting.
Review:
What can I say, Ally Carter has done it again. She's made a unique protagonist, Grace, battling against herself and sources that are trying to stop her.
All Fall Down takes place on Embassy Row in a fictional country. It deals with politics, the different masks that people wear, and of course, an underlying death/revenge story. Throughout the book, Grace has PTSD recollections of witnessing her mother's death. The book goes on to develop that "origin" story which is the thread that keeps it going.
Grace has replaced Cammie from Gallagher Girls as my second favorite Carter protagonist (Kat from Heist Society still takes #1.) I was hesitant going in that Grace would be a carbon copy of one or the other, but she had different characteristics and tendencies. Her psychological trauma is written very realistically and absolutely nothing about it was glorified.
The supporting characters in this novel were superb. I loved Noah from the second he marched in and declared himself best friend. Megan wasn't just a throwaway ex-friend character; she came into her own and had her own reasons for helping out. Rosie still remains a mystery that I hope will be further explained, but I love her nonetheless.
Alexei seemed rather undeveloped and absent for most of the book to deserve a spot in the book flap synopsis. Which may have been a good thing, because I feel like a strong love interest would have gotten in the way of Grace taking charge. There are still more books coming to remedy this fact. The other drawback to All Fall Down is that Carter's books are always very short and in large(r) print. I was hoping All Fall Down would have more to it, but I don't know why I was expecting that.
If you want an action-filled story with a strong female protagonist (and by strong I mean complex and multilayered, not just physically powerful) then read All Fall Down.