New Adult: Throne of the Fallen

Author: Kerri Maniscalco

Title: Throne of the Fallen

Genre: New Adult

Publication Date: October 3, 2023

Number of Pages: 564

Geographical Setting: Waverly Green (Based on Regency-Era London) and the Shifting Isles

Time Period: Not specifically stated

Series: Princes of Sin, Book 1

Plot Summary:

    Throne of the Fallen follows one of the Wicked Princes, Envy, as he plays a game laid out by the king of the Faerie, Lennox. There are five rules that must always be followed; no magical persuasion to influence nonplayers related to clues, each player has only three chances to move to the next clue (failure = disqualification), the punishment for disqualification is up to the game master (including but not limited to death), the prize is tailored to each player, and the players have been selected by the game master. This leads him to Miss Camilla Antonius, who is a painter in the mortal realm. The task: get her to paint a portrait of the Hexed Throne, a throne that is "pristine and dazzling on one side and blazing with flames on the other." (Mansicalco, 2023) Camilla refuses, and Envy has to figure out how to get her to paint the throne. 

    Camilla has her own reasons for not wanting to paint the Hexed Throne, the main one being anything that she paints comes to life. After two failed attempts to get Camilla to paint the throne, Envy finally succeeds and she begins painting. Once finished, the Hexed Throne comes to life, gives Envy his next clue, and takes Camilla's ability to paint. In order to get her painting skills back, she has to become a player in the game. This turn causes her and Envy to become an unlikely team to solve the remaining riddles and uncover secrets that they are keeping from each other. 

    Kerri Maniscalco is by far my favorite author at the moment. I love her stories and the way she writes is so easy to get sucked into. This is her seventh book and is her first book that she considers as adult fiction. It is definitely her first "spicy" book, but it is still full of plot, which I love. This story had me hooked from the beginning, but I've loved Envy since reading the Kingdom of the Wicked series. This was the hardest by far for me to annotate just because I felt so many feelings reading it that I had no clue what to write about.

Subject Headings:

Women Artists > Fiction

Demonology > Fiction

Fantasy Fiction

Romance Fiction

Paranormal Fiction

Appeal:

    While New Adult is still a relatively new "genre" for the literary world, this title hits the mark for the descriptors. It has themes that could make it YA, but it is more explicit than any YA I have read so far. I would avoiding recommending this to anyone who hasn't at least graduated high school yet, and even then I would be leary because of how explicit it gets. If I were to recommend any book by Maniscalco to a young reader it would for sure be her Stalking Jack the Ripper series. There isn't much on the "coming of age" front in this story, but for a book that could easily be categorized into romance, fantasy, paranormal, etc. genres, it shows character growth for the main characters in ways that would be hard for a younger audience to fully comprehend and appreciate.

3 terms that best describe this book:

• Fast-Paced
• Steamy
• Engaging

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors

Pike, S. (2010). Faery tale: One woman's search for enchantment in a modern world. Perigee Books.

Signe Pike takes readers on a journey across the globe looking for those that still believe in faeries. She travels across many different scenes-dark glens, abandoned forests, ancient sacred sites, and even local pubs- in order to find information and believers such as herself. As she attempts to connect with the spirit world, she discovers a new love for the world she lives in and develops a childlike wonder that believing in the whimsical provides.

Common Appeals: Faeries, Fantasy

Baker, K. (2018). On the seven deadly sins. Unicorn. 

Kenneth Baker dives into the seven deadly sins and how they have shaped the world over many different time periods, including present day. Although these sins are usually associated with negative connotations, Baker illustrates that they can also be forces of good while also noting examples of the vices they still are. It includes manuscripts from the Middle Ages to paintings created by Picasso, as well as cartoons created by the likes of Gillray, Rowlandson, Bateman, Eric Gill and Peter Brookes.

Common Appeals: Deadly sins

Gosslee, J., & Zises, H. (2018). 50 contemporary women artists. Schiffer.

This title features a wide selection of artwork and architectural designs created by women form 1960 to the time of publication. It presents a fresh perspective on feminism, addresses themes of social issues, cultural issues, political issues, etc., and provides profiles of artists from across the world. It includes works from five MacAuthur Foundation Fellows that create an ongoing conversation about contemporary artistic practices. This title gives readers a unique preview of works inspired by the Women's March on Washington in 2017 as well as seminal works. 

Common Appeals: Women artists

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors

Maniscalco, K. (2020). Kingdom of the wicked. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are witches living among the Sicilian people in hiding. One night Vittoria misses her dinner shift at their parents restaurant, which causes Emilia to go searching for her. When Emilia finds Vittoria, she is dead and her heart has been ripped out. This leads Emilia to summon Wrath, one of the Wicked Princes of Hell to team up and figure out who is killing people by ripping their hearts out. This series is referenced throughout Throne of the Fallen and definitely should be read first.

Common Appeals: Demonology, romance fiction, paranormal fiction, fantasy fiction.

Black, H. (2022). Book of night. Tor Books. 

Charlie Hall's world is as peaceful as it can be for a low-level con artist working as a bartender. in her world, shadows can be altered for entertainment, cosmetic preferences, influence, and power. The drawback to altering a shadow is that it takes hours or even days off your life. All is well in Charlie's life until a figure from her past re-enters her life, causing chaos. This throws Charlie into a maelstrom of secrets and murder, all while those around her are desperate to control the power of shadows.

Common Appeals: Paranormal fiction, romance fiction, fantasy fiction

Selene, L. (2024). A feather so black. Orbit. 

Fia is a changling left behind in a kingdom where magic has been lost by the wicked Fair Folk when they retreated behind the locked gates of Tír na nÓg. She is despised by most in the kingdom, but the Queen raises her and trains her to be a spy while the true princess Eala is tied to Tír na nÓg, cursed to be a swan by day and her true form at night. When a hidden gate to the Fair Folk realm is discovered, Fia ia tasked with rescuing Eala and breaking her curse.

Common Appeals: Fantasy fiction, romance fiction

References

Maniscalco, K. (2023). Throne of the fallen. Little, Brown and Company.