The Fall: Signed Collector's Edition: The Bound and the Broken Novella

The Dragon Reread

One of the best novellas I've ever read

"The Fall is an emotional, Sentinel-armor-enhanced kick to the gut while ranking as one of my all-time favorite novellas. I’ve heard The Fall touted as the example of how to effectively write a fantasy novella and, after reading it, I have to agree. It’s important to note here, especially if you haven’t read my review for Of Blood and Fire, that I decided to follow the Fellensir reading order, which means I read Of Blood and Fire before reading The Fall. As I expressed in the other review (check it out for more details), I sincerely believe that this is the optimal way of starting The Bound and the Broken series. Having the groundwork laid for me by Of Blood and Fire allowed this extremely fast paced and ambitious novella to land on an already established framework and understanding of Epheria. The impact of seeing some of these characters, who played huge parts in Of Blood and Fire or who were mentioned in passing, allowed their story in The Fall to take on greater depths, and ultimately extract significantly more emotional pain as I watched The Fall unfold. “Pain is the path to strength.” Where Of Blood and Fire started the reader in a small village with a slow and steady build up of action and lore, The Fall grabs you by the shoulders from the first page, chucks you onto the back of a dragon, and expects that you’re not going to fall off during the ride. The action is non-stop. The Fall is set 400 years before the events in Of Blood and Fire. We follow four main perspectives as we learn about this devastating, bloody night in the city of Ilnaen: Alvira the Archon, Kallinvar from the Knights of Achyron, Coren of the Draleid, and the traitor Eltoar. We get to meet a young Aeson and learn briefly of Farda’s traitorous backstory. These four perspectives are woven together masterfully. There are touch points snuck into each story so you can place it on the timeline of the battle, but there never feels like there is unnecessary redundancy. The Fall is such a strong novella for a number of reasons. First, and probably most impressive to me, is that Cahill was able to introduce us to four almost completely new characters (I know there were some brief introductions to some of them in Of Blood and Fire, but they were minor) and make us care about these people in the space of a few pages. There are instant emotional connections between the readers and these characters, to such a degree that I felt my heart being ripped out multiple times in the course of a 77-page book! I was on an emotional rollercoaster throughout the entire novella, shocked and heartbroken as I witnessed Alvira and Eltoar’s interaction, cheering a wild battlecry as the Knights charged into Ilnaen, crushed at the death and destruction and ripping apart of dragon bonds, and then ultimately horrified as we meet Fane Mortem in the last pages. These pages are bursting at the seams with blockbuster worthy scenes that I cannot get over. All the scenes with Aeson. Kallinvar’s fight with the Bloodmarked. Coren witnessing the pain of the newly christened Rakina. Eltoar’s brief realization of the sacrifice he has made while standing in the Hatchery. The terrible might of Fane. The amount of lore that Cahill is able to build in such a brief novella is impressive and bodes well for the remainder of this series. “You must always rise, so that others rise with you.” The Fall is black velvet, highlighting the diamond that Cahill is crafting in The Bound and the Broken. Cahill’s deep, meticulous history of Epheria and the potential for how sweeping and epic this series can be is encapsulated in this short novella. To anyone who is deciding how to start The Bound and the Broken (because starting it should be a given at this point), start with Of Blood and Fire, learn about Epheria, and then get blown away by The Fall. Please, for the love of Achyron, do not just read the novels and skip these novellas. The Fall is a masterclass in elevating a series into a completely different tier of fantasy story. ["

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June 13, 2024 Verified Purchase

Angela Miles

Great prequel novella

"I started the series with this novella and wow it was an amazing start to an EIPC series! It was quick, fast paced and a great read! ["

November 15, 2025 Verified Purchase

Joe Rixman

Every Story Has a Beginning...This is Just One

"The Fall is a prequel to the first book in The Bound and the Broken series by Ryan Cahill. It is meant to be a quick, deep dive into the world and showcase Cahill's writing. It does both, in spades. The story takes place 400 years before the events of book one of the series, Of Blood and Fire. You are immediately propelled into the events of the Fall of the Order, the betrayals of the Dragonguard, and the failure of The Knights of Achyron to address the rise of evil fast enough. It is a lightning-fast introduction on the magic system called the Spark as well. The book is divided into four separate chapters, each focusing on one of the driving characters of the event: The Archon, The Knights, Dragonbound, and The Traitor. The reader is thrust into the middle of battle and violent, bloody conflict. Here, however, is what makes The Fall and author Cahill stand apart from other independent writers (and many traditionally published authors also). Throughout the fighting, we get strong character development as well. Brief, but lasting. Cahill appears to have that innate ability to draw a reader into a character and his/her plight so effortlessly as to be annoying. How did I get to like or hate this character so fast? At 86 pages of story (and two of glossary at the end), The Fall is like a shooting star splitting the night sky. It flies by (try to put it down...I dare you!), but never feels less for it. The characters anchor this story. You feel for their plights. Even the traitor gets his moment to shine, albeit too late to matter in the grand scheme. You will love this prequel, which can be read either before or after Book One. Tastes may vary. I chose to dive in and read the novella first. It made me breathless to read Book One...which then led to Book Two, then Novella Two...and now I wait, not-so-patiently, for Book Three, currently planned for December 2022 release. The Fall gives you a taste of the world Ryan Cahill has created. That taste demands a bigger bite and thus far, Cahill gets better and better with each successive release. ["

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July 27, 2022 Verified Purchase

NunyaBizness

HIGHLY RECOMMEND

"I love this series. For some reason it reminded me of The Name of the Wind, maybe the writing style, I dunno. I started with book 1, didn't hear about this one until late, so ended up reading it after #3. I read it via ku, but liked it, and the series so much, I've started to get hardcover copies. This is available free on the authors website, but it's sooo good, the kind of series you want to read over again in the future, many times. This series isn't finished yet. I love the world building and the descriptive detail. I love how the story jumps from vantage/character to the next. Rarely do books do that and you're left wondering what xxx was doing or how something played out. This author puts so much detail into each aspect of each character and their journey, switching viewpoints for updates frequently. I like that at the beginning of each book, there's a quick replay of the main points of the previous, so you can catch up quick before you start the new one. I also like that he includes pronunciations for all the names and terms. Often, I just wing it, then for the rest of the story/series I'm calling it whatever, and I'm usually way off. I don't do audible, so found it really helpful. I really love everything about this series. I highly highly recommend the series! ["

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August 11, 2023 Verified Purchase