I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review in any way.
This exciting new series from New York Times Bestselling author Ally Carter focuses on Grace, who can be best described as a daredevil, an army brat and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world, and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row.
Now, at age sixteen, she's come back to stay - in order to solve the mystery of her mother's death. in the process, she uncovers and international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved.
All Fall Down was full of mystery and suspense, something I've come to realise Ally Carter really excels at. I was kept guessing over whodunit throughout, I made quite a few predictions, which changed constantly. I really liked that All Fall Down was not at all predictable, at times I thought I'd sussed it out, but then BAM, something else happened. Because of this I became engrossed in All Fall Down pretty quickly, so much so that I nearly missed my stop on the bus.
I always seem to like Ally Carter's characters, they're average teenagers with a little bit of extraordinary thrown in. Grace was real, even though she lives in the US Embassy, and I connected to her. It was hard not to feel for her as she frantically tried to find her mother's murderer. Frantic to the point of crazy.
Grace is not alone in Adria on Embassy Row, she's got a group of friends, and her family. There's also a boy, Alexi, her big brother's best friend. There's a simmering of romance between Grace and Alexi throughout the novel, but it's not an overarching theme or huge part of the book. In fact it's in the background, subtly hinted at on a few occasions. I actually found it quite refreshing to read a book that wasn't just romance centred, it's kind of there but isn't really, and I really enjoyed it. All Fall Down is the first in the series, and I'm hoping that the Alexi and Grace relationship will develop and blossom as the series continues.
In my opinion All Fall Down is a book that's suitable for the younger YA reader to the older. If I'm honest I was a little apprehensive that I might be too old for it, after all Grace is only 16 and I'm a uni student so there's not much comparable going on in our lives. But I was wrong, Grace's age never really came into the equation.
I really loved All Fall Down, it's a book that I'll be getting my sister to read for sure! I can't to read the next book in the Embassy Row series. Have you read All Fall Down? Let me know what you thought in the comments!
'All Fall Down' by Ally Carter
5 Stars
Labels: 2015, 5 Stars, All Fall Down, Ally Carter, Book, Gallagher Girls, Heist Society, Published 2015, YA, Young Adult
