The Fallen Avian Review

I was lucky enough to get sent this ARC and while it was a solid read, I was never utterly spellbound by it. The concept is super neat though and not one I’ve encountered before. Magic doesn’t really exist, and the only thing that’s fantastical is that some humans have earned wings, while others haven’t. It’s a clever way to draw a lot of parallels between race/class social divides. Expect plenty of commentary on that. And for my bird nerds out there, this one’s for you. There’s even vocal mimicry—bloody brilliant!

A few thoughts, in no particular order:

1) There is no spice whatsoever and despite several dismemberments, there’s basically no guts and gore.

2) All the titular characters are between ages 14 and 18, so I definitely think this book will land well with readers in that age range. As an adult reader, it’s a bit tedious.

3) Our FMC is 15 and takes it upon herself to be everyone’s hero, despite having no qualifications to be such. Her loyalty is to whomever is in the most dire of straits, which renders her the wishy washiest. She frequently abandons her friends and other compatriots, and while at first you think this is setting her up for some major personal growth, she doesn’t ever improve in this regard. Disappointing to say the least, and aggravating to say the most.

4) The pacing is tricky for me to describe. The plot plods along at a steady pace, always moving forwards, but never quickly. It held my attention, but wasn’t unputdownable. It’s worth noting that this book is roughly 135,000 words, which is on the long side for a fantasy novel, which is already the longest genre. I think this adds to the overall slower pacing. It was never oh-my-god-cut-all-this-unnecessary-junk slow, but it wasn’t fast.

5) I feel like there ought to be a trigger warning for claustrophobic folks. There’s a lengthy scene that takes place in a flooded tunnel system and our MMC has one perpetual panic attack because of the cramped conditions. It’s so well written that I was struggling to breath properly just reading and imagining it.

6) The ending. The ending! Where do I even begin? Without spoiling anything, I’ll just say this. There felt a very natural place to end and I was impressed with the ending in that place. Then there was another chapter. And yet another chapter. Both of the last two chapters read as epilogues, had the vibes of an epilogue, but were just straight up chapters. It was actually kind of jarring, and not in the positive Marvel end credit scene kind of way. I get plot and sequel wise why they had to be included (though we don’t strictly require the penultimate chapter), but personally, I don’t like how it was done. It made the ending fall flat for me, and not just because it was supposed to be a cliffhanger that turned out to have a set of stairs carved into it leading safely down to the ground.

Overall, I’m giving The Fallen Avian three stars. It’s a fresh, new (at least to me) fantasy concept that was crafted in a clever way, the execution just wasn’t the most exhilarating for me personally. But I'm just one person on the internet. You don't have to take my word for it.

As of May 15th, 2026, you can purchase TFA here.