Name: Haven Fall
ISBN: 9781526622860

Sara Holland

Haven Fall

Katharina Hoffmann

1.5 stars

This book promised to be a lush fantasy story about magic and intriguing worlds, but this read fell short of what I expected.

Havenfall is an inn tucked deep into the heart of the Rocky Mountains. It is a refuge and second home for Maddie, who has spent her summer holidays there for as long as she can remember. Her uncle Marcus is the inn-keeper, responsible for guarding the secret of what Havenfall really is: a sanctuary that once connected Earth with a dozen of different worlds. But the only realms that still exist are Fiordenkill, Byrn and Solaria.
When Maddie returns to the inn, she is hoping to escape her turbulent life for a while. Her mother sits on death row, accused of murdering Maddie’s brother. All Maddie wants to do is learn from Marcus so that she can run the inn and be the keeper of its secrets one day. Eager to reunite with her uncle and Brekken, her best friend she has had a crush on for quite some time, Maddie gets more than what she’s bargained for when a dead body is found. A mysterious girl appears, and Marcus is gravely injured.

I didn’t expect too much when I picked this up, but I think it’s fair to say that this book had potential with the different worlds and different people populating the realms.

The first 60 pages set up the plot quite nicely. We were given some action and suspense, but everything afterwards just didn’t deliver. The whole story plays out in one single place – the inn. Even though the different realms were quite basic and stereotypical (Fiordenkill is very cold, everything is made out of snow and ice; Byrn is a desert world), it would have been interesting to see the author explore those worlds. Anything would have been better than having the whole book take place in the inn.

After the dead body shows up, the plot becomes so utterly dull, I often couldn’t get myself to read more than 10-20 before I had to put the book down. I had to fight to finish this one, guys.

The characters were pretty one-dimensional, too. I liked that Maddie is bisexual (there were also a few other queer characters!), but otherwise, I didn’t really care about her or any of the other characters. The danger they were all supposedly in never felt real or palpable. As a character, Maddie was also incredibly naïve and stupid. She is surrounded by adults who are all more experienced and knowledgeable than she is, but she still manages to make all the wrong choices.

The plot is very predictable. The bad guy can be singled out from the very beginning, and their characterisation was shallow (pompous, melodramatic, showy). None of the characters underwent any sort of character development either. The magic system was underdeveloped, and instead of being mysterious, the plot mainly consisted of petty intrigues and conspiracies.

This book might be enjoyed by readers around the age of 13-16 who are new to the YA genre, but it was a heavy disappointment for me.

Haven Fall

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