Review - Kalona's Fall: A House of Night Novella - Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

Kalona's Fall
A House of Night Novella
by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pub. Date: July 29, 2014
ISBN: 978-1250046116
Pages: 150
Buy Link: Hardback

Review:

Since 2007, the mother daughter writing duo, P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast, have tantalized readers with their vampire-themed A House of Night series. Before the series officially ends with Redeemed this fall, fans of the series can grab their hands on this week's release of the prequel novella, Kalona's Fall.

He was laughing with her as he spread his wings and lifted her from the ground, twirling her.Nyx gasped and clutched his neck. Kalona tightened his arms around her.

“Trust me, Goddess. I would never let you fall.”

The novella is an origin story of the two winged brothers, Erebus (son of the golden sun) and Kalona (son of the moon), who were created by Mother Earth to be the companions to the Goddess Nyx. The brothers are completely different from each other and Nyx loves them both dearly. She is sexually attracted to Kalona, but she is attracted to Erebus's mind and talents. Only one of these winged brothers will be worthy of being her true companion, so the brothers are tested with three tasks, which the outcome will determined their fates.

While I enjoyed reading the previous prequel novellas (Dragon's Oath, Lenobia's Vow and Nefert's Curse), I was a little disappointed with Kalona's Fall, as there isn't much of a story here besides from the creation of the two winged brothers. It feels less of a prequel and more like a Greek fable. Despite the short length at 150 pages, to me the story just kept dragging along, though it did get better towards the final chapters. The illustrations throughout the novella were cleverly created by Aura Dalian. Overall, Kalona's Fall is written for the diehard A House of Night readers; it doesn't offer much for newbies to the series; however, loyal fans will enjoy reading the tale despite its flaws.