Customer Reviews

The Fall

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Juliane and Ulrich really are legends in their time. She has the dubious honor of being the Queen of the Frigid and he has the sole distinction of being the King of Seduction. As the story unfolds, we learn how very much Juliane stands to both gain and lose if a man manages to rise to her particular challenge. Ulrich could easily have been a one-dimensional character in this story, but Dain peels back his layers and we find out how very much he has to offer Juliane.

The most surprising thing about this book is its intense emotional depth. I expected a fun read and a great one, since it was by Claudia Dain. I should have expected the intensity and the heart-wrenching revelations, as well, but they somehow took me unaware. This book, like its hero and heroine, has many layers. It is deep, moving and satisfies on so many levels.

Everything about this book is layered and rich. The characters are legends in their own right, but we get to see all the levels peeled back. The banter is quick, the plot might feel light at first, but there's so much going on underneath. Secondary characters are detailed and deceiving! This might not be an easy read for everyone, but it is deep and thematic and emotionally satisfying.

Claudia Dain never fails to enthrall me with her rich writing. The Fall is no exception. Strong hero, strong heroine and problems that seem insurmountable. Somehow, though, Dain manages to bring Ulrich and his frosty lady together in a manner that is entirely believable and true to their characters. Bravo!

From the very beginning, I was drawn in by the beautiful writing. As I read on, the theme and symbolism caught my attention. By the end of the book, I was completely invested in everything, including characters and plot. The story was beautiful, made all the more powerful by the writing. I don't have very many keepers, but this is one that's going to stay on my bookshelf, after I've loaned it out to everyone I know. I can't wait to share it with everyone!

In true Claudia Dain style, this story is captivating, the hero and heroine are intriguing, and I was rooting for them from the very first page. I can't wait to read more of them.

I love Claudia Dain! And I loved The Fall!

While reading her Medieval Knights Series, I felt as though I was taken back in time. Her descriptions, characters and plots feel authentic to the era. If you are looking for bubble gum romance or a light romp you will probably not like this series. But if you are looking for something deeper, with more substance, you can't go wrong with The Fall or with any of the books in the Medieval Knights Series. This story and the others depict medieval England more accurately than others I've read. Yet there is still a touching and loving romantic tale intertwined throughout the pages.

This book is a stand alone, but if you've read the others, a past hero is mentioned and plays somewhat into this plot. For me it's always fun to find out what happened to past characters once their book says "the end".

Juliane is a strong woman and witty. I loved her attempts to frighten Ulrich away. But the lure of both land and the lady are too tempting to scare off the courtly knight with no land of his own. There are wonderful secondary characters, an awful villain, and a hero and heroine who are the perfect match for each other.

I've read hundreds of romances. This was one of the better-written stories. When I first read this book, I was so enchanted that I thought I would add it to my rare "Keep Forever" collection. The main characters play well off each other. The secondary characters were also delightful and several sequels could come from this. My only complaint was with the level of violence near the end. The heroine got cruel treatment -- something other romances authors usually stop short of doing to their characters. I realized then that this was going to be a "read-once-only" book for its higher than normal violence.

Juliane Le Gel married young as she was instructed. Things went wrong, however, when the witness of the consummation of her marriage told the tale that, though she was obedient and submissive in the bedchamber, Juliane's husband couldn't rise to the occasion and breach her maidenhead. Because the marriage couldn't be finalized with consummation, Juliane was divorced from her husband. Given a reprieve, as she saw it, from the hardship of marriage, Juliane built a reputation for herself as the "Frost Fair". The legend was that though many men had tried to win her, none could keep from "withering" when she looked at them.

Ulrich of Caen is a [illegitimate] born knight with a reputation for the ladies. He comes to Juliane's home with a couple of his buddies to try to "melt the ice" of the legendary Juliane.

I find myself writing this review in a very stilted manner, and can't help but think that it's because I've been damaged by the heavy medieval style in which this tale is told. This is not the first Dain book I've read, and she's usually very good at helping to create a tone for her book with her prose. If she's writing Puritans and Pirates, it feels like a book about Puritans and Pirates. If she writes a Western, let me tell you, it feels like a Western. Normally if she writes a medieval, it really feels like a medieval. This feels like a medieval, but one written by a Victorian author. "The Fall" is too vague, too wordy, too artificial to work. I had to force myself through the first fifty pages, the whole time shaking my head in disbelief that this could be a Claudia Dain book--often I slide along so easily in her prose that I find myself reading a whole book in one sitting. That was simply not the case this time around.

Juliane isn't really frigid. She's just been skillful about creating an aura of it around herself. Employing servants, family members, and even animals in her quest to have a cold shower affect on every man she meets. Sure she was successful, but by the end of the book I have myself wondering why. The whole basis of the legend was a lie, Juliane's first marriage was consummated, she's not a virgin, but her husband was convinced to go along with the story and walk away from her by her father for reasons that are never really revealed and therefore seem fantastical. Why would her husband walk away?

Also, Juliane's set up is as a strong heroine, and she is strong, but she's also a little dumb and emotionally ignorant. She's totally blind to the true feelings and machinations of an uncle who likes to meddle. It's apparent that she's into Ulrich, but she resists him like crazy for a reason that feels really false--she says she doesn't want him to know her legend is a lie or something to that effect. She runs off after their wedding and gets herself "intimately violated" (yes, actually "intimately violated") just because she's trying to prove that Ulrich doesn't control her or something. I just don't really like her.

Ulrich has baggage, as even medieval rakes are wont to do. He has no money or land, and decides to marry Juliane when she's offered to him (because her father thinks she's the man for him just because he can get it up--even though the father knows the whole frigid thing is a myth) so that he can take the land he'll get and make the son he already has heir to it. Yeah. Juliane's own children will be landless and penniless so that Ulrich's [illegitimate] son can have the only estate they're given. Never would a medieval woman's family have made such a match for her, knowing that. Typical romance author mistake, though, we see this sort of thing all of the time. People forget the main consideration of arranged marriages was not furthering the interests of the two people marrying so much as it was furthering the prospects of any products of the union, and therefore the importance of both families involved. Sorry, tangent.

Anyway, these two, somewhere in the middle of the strange little "game" of courtly love they're playing fall in love. Then (and here's the thing that really made the book a total loss for me), they consummate their marriage two days after she was brutally "intimately violated". Yeah. And it's a full blown "we're having the best sex of our lives" sex scene. Okay you haven't heard the worst yet. The "bedding" is witnessed by his best friend, her sister, and her brother. That's right. It's like a bad porn movie. And it's not one of those historically accurate "witness the consummation" moments. It feels really dirty. Squick.

I have to give "The Fall" one star. It just doesn't have any redeeming qualities--though the secondary romance comes close. I'd love to play the part of fangirl (which I am when it comes to Dain, honestly), but I have to be honest. The plot looks like someone used it for target practice. The characters aren't very good. The prose, from an author who's normally excellent, is awful. And, there are some downright disgusting and horrific scenes. I love Claudia Dain, she's so much better than this. Go read "The Marriage Bed", or "Tell Me Lies", or "A Kiss To Die For", or heck ANYTHING else by Dain. She's normally amazing, but we all have bad days, right?

Also, there are "Taming of The Shrew" elements here. I guess. Sort of. But not enough to mention. I don't really think that comparison was Dain's intention at all, nor do I really think it is founded.

I think there were about 100 pages too many. There was overt and implied violence that was disturbing, and the hero had anger management issues - their first kiss was really hostile. Beware - and buy used.

I have enjoyed Dain's past novels, even when the violence toward the heroine made me uncomfortable. But this book simply went too far besides being totally unrealistic. What woman on the face of this earth, could be brutally raped and in the next minute consummate her marriage in front her best friend, her husband's best friend, and her BROTHER. Let alone enjoy it. This disgusted me. I cannot buy any more of her books if this trend is going to continue. Unless you have some masochistic streak in you, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK.