Fallen City by Adrienne Young – Review

Published: November 4, 2025

Publisher: Saturday Books

Series: Fallen City #1

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 403 (Kindle)

My Rating: 3 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
In the great walled city of Isara, political turmoil ignites a rebellion one hundred years in the making. But when a legionnaire falls in love with a Magistrate’s daughter, their love will threaten the fate of the city and the will of the gods.

Luca Matius has one purpose—to carry on the family name, maintaining its presence in the Forum once his powerful and cruel uncle dies. But his noviceship with the city’s Philosopher places him in the middle of a catastrophe that will alter the destiny of his people.

Maris Casperia was raised amidst the strategic maneuvers of the Citadel’s inner workings, and she knows what her future holds—a lifetime of service to a corrupt city. But her years of serving as a novice to the last Priestess who possesses the stolen magic of the Old War has made her envision a different kind of future for the city. When she meets Luca, a fated chain of events is set into motion that will divinely entangle their lives.

As a secret comes to light and throws the city into chaos, Luca and Maris hatch a plot to create a calculated alliance that could tip the scales of power. But when an execution forces Luca to become the symbol of rebellion, he and Maris are thrown onto opposite sides of a holy war. As their fates diverge, they learn they are at the center of a story the gods are writing. And even if they can find their way back to each other, there may be nothing left.

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Fallen City was the last of my 2025 ARCs and though I was hoping for a surprise last minute 5 star read, this was just okay. This book has many hallmarks of a book I would love – a vaguely Roman inspired world, politics, a star-crossed pair of lovers – but unfortunately this combination of stellar ingredients didn’t make a Michelin-starred dish. 

Our two main POV characters are Luca and Maris who find themselves on opposite sides of a long brewing conflict in the city of Isara. Luca is with the rebellion and finds himself both god-touched and avoiding the call of command. Maris has just inherited her mother’s seat in the Citadel after her apparent suicide and now finds herself in even more danger than before. The rebellion is hanging any Magistrate caught trying to leave the Citadel district and each morning Luca finds himself checking to make sure Maris isn’t among the dead. Though they have always belonged to opposing sides, they’ve been drawn to one another, even when Luca was set to inherit his uncle’s seat as a Magistrate. 

Like I said, there are many elements of this story that I should have loved, but the execution of them ultimately left me wanting. I never found myself wanting to DNF the book, but I did always find myself wishing there was more. More to the characters, more detail, more emotion. We are given the set up of the current crisis and Luca and Maris’s meeting and budding relationship through a series of flashback chapters. For me, this format didn’t work. I think a linear timeline would have worked better for me in this instance because my emotional investment would have had the time it needed to build. As it was, things jumped around a bit too much and I didn’t always have the context I needed to feel maximum emotions until too late. The worldbuilding was a little light as well. It didn’t lean hard enough into either being very Roman or very much its own thing. I wanted more detail on the gods, the god touched, and this old conflict with another city that becomes relevant toward the end.

Overall, this could have been a great story with some tweaks, but as it is, it was just okay. This is a planned duology and I don’t see myself picking up the final book because I simply wasn’t invested enough in the plot or the characters. I think this book definitely has its audience, but sadly I wasn’t that audience.