Book Name: All Fall Down (Embassy Row #1)Author: Ally Carter
Published: January 20, 2015
Publisher: Scholastic
Genre: YA Action, Drama, Fiction, Mystery
A new series of global proportions--from master of intrigue, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Ally Carter.
Grace Blakely is absolutely certain of three things:
1. She is not crazy.
2. Her mother was murdered.
3. Someday is going to find the killer and make him pay.
As certain as Grace is about these facts, nobody else believes her--so there's no one she can completely trust. Not her grandfather, a powerful ambassador. Not her new friends, who all live on Embassy Row. Not Alexei, the Russian boy next door, who is keeping his eye on Grace for reasons she neither likes nor understands.
Everybody wants Grace to put on a pretty dress and a pretty smile, blocking out all her unpretty thoughts. But they can't control Grace--no more than Grace can control what she knows or what she needs to do. Her past has come back to hunt her… and if she doesn't stop it, Grace isn't the only one who will get hurt. Because on Embassy Row, the countries of the world stand like dominoes, and one wrong move can make them all fall down.
Grace Blakely is absolutely certain of three things:
1. She is not crazy.
2. Her mother was murdered.
3. Someday is going to find the killer and make him pay.
As certain as Grace is about these facts, nobody else believes her--so there's no one she can completely trust. Not her grandfather, a powerful ambassador. Not her new friends, who all live on Embassy Row. Not Alexei, the Russian boy next door, who is keeping his eye on Grace for reasons she neither likes nor understands.
Everybody wants Grace to put on a pretty dress and a pretty smile, blocking out all her unpretty thoughts. But they can't control Grace--no more than Grace can control what she knows or what she needs to do. Her past has come back to hunt her… and if she doesn't stop it, Grace isn't the only one who will get hurt. Because on Embassy Row, the countries of the world stand like dominoes, and one wrong move can make them all fall down.
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Lisamentary:
First of all, I want to thank Huy for giving me this as a Christmas present! I loved it! Well, I liked it very, very much.
Ally Carter has done it once again! She writes the best mystery/action fiction and her new idea of political espionage is great. (Gallagher series will always be my favorite though.)
Grace Blakely, the main character, is a bit crazy I'd admit. But, really, who doesn't like a little crazy? She's very much confused and lost and I can't blame her because she lost her mother. However, this vendetta she has against the scarred man became less and less believable over the book as Carter increasingly discredited her. Yet, I was still rooting for Grace the whole time even when her grandpa seemed like he was purposely ignoring how Grace felt. In the end, though, it seems that her Grandpa and everyone are looking out for her best interest because I don't know if I could live with that type of information. It'd probably kill me.
As for the boys of this novel, Noah and Alexei, let me just say how thankful I am that there isn't a love triangle for the three. I was pretty scared because what else would happen with two boys and one girl. Someone has to get the boot. However, the romance in this novel was developed rather nice, albeit subtly, since I now Noah doesn't really stand a large change against Alexei because he's not competing in the first place. Noah is just Grace's "best friend" and nothing more. Truthfully, I see something brewin' between Noah and Megan, Grace's old playmate. They're much funnier together. Kind of like Ron and Hermione type of deal with the two sidekicks getting together.
Alexei doesn't have a large presence in this novel, but I can just feel the chemistry between him and Grace in like every scene they're in together. I hope he gets more screen time in the next book because he's a quiet and funny kind of guy.
One thing this book did give me is a much larger appreciation for foreign boys. Oooh-la-la!
Plot-wise, the story was well-developed but kind of slow for my liking. There was action here and there, but I wasn't what you'd call immersed. I was more like very interested. This may be because this novel was largely to build up to the ending, which was a HUGE cliffhanger. I wasn't expecting something that traumatic and surprising for the ending, yet it was fitting because it makes the story better. I really like the idea of Embassy Row because how fun would it be to surrounded by rich, privileged kids from all around the world that are very similar to oneself. Again foreign (if you're lucky mixed) boys. Fun times!
All Fall Down is a good start to this series. On the other hand, I just wish there was a bit more. I felt that there was something lacking in this novel that was present in her other ones. Maybe because Grace is alone so often and the characters in the other novels stood out due to their interactions. Also, Grace is not in her best state despite being likable.
I already started on See How They Run, the second novel, so be on the lookout for that review!
Enjoy!
Rating:
Story: 8.5
Characters: 8
Enjoyment: 8.5
Overall:
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