THE FALL

by Alex Mizgailo ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2026

In Mizgailo’s fantasy novel, one in a series, a group of adventurers brave dungeons while seeking treasure.

The second installment in the Land of Amun series resumes in the dungeons with its core cast of six adventurers: an elf, a dwarf, a “halfling” healer, the “fallen” alien, a satyr, and a human man. Descending from the third to the fourth level and hell-bent on continuing their mission, they navigate caverns and forking paths rich with poisonous gas, various plants, and mystical adversaries. With relentless mana-depleting threats coming from all angles, interpersonal relationships start to fray. Meanwhile, aboveground in Springdale, a village elder named Greg (also the landlord of the local tavern) and a group of soldiers are trying to stave off the encroaching undead. The neighboring bandits have long viewed Greg as “a source of trouble,” but they’re also keen to breach the impenetrable tavern stronghold despite its besiegement by “a dozen or more gorged creatures at the height of their power.” With most of the town’s civilians packed inside, Greg tries to calm tempers but is overwhelmed by “the surrounding oblivion wondering how anyone could truly go on living like this.” He forms an uneasy partnership with Lycah, the shape-shifting wolf assistant of the previous volume’s titular wizard. The lycanthrope has an agenda of her own, however. While trying to animate corpses, she displays her wry humor: “Obviously, an idiotic orc, like most humans, could not be reasoned with.” When the Warriors Guild gets wind of the troubles, they send troops that could complicate Lycah’s dark magical plans.

Fans of progressive role-playing games will be at home with the strategic deliberation and decision-making that characterize the core six’s steady progress toward the lost relic. The extensive dungeon crawl might not suit every fantasy reader, since the overarching plot sometimes loses its way amid the extensive rooms and their occupants. Mizgailo does his best to refresh the journey’s formula with endlessly inventive obstacles of traps and bizarre creatures with armor and magical scrolls. Such plotting perhaps comes at the expense of developing the personalities of the six, since their familiar repartee loses a bit of luster. Grampy, a crochety, battle-hardened dwarf, continues to provide much of the book’s humor while being allowed rare moments that deepen his character: “At the brink of death, I reflected on my life—what I’ve accomplished and what I’ve yet to do. Each time, it becomes increasingly difficult to accept the growing imbalance.” His comrades aren’t given the same space for reflection. In the aboveground narrative, readers will enjoy Lycah’s craftiness and seemingly unlimited transformational abilities. In a genuinely eerie scene, shortly after reanimating an elf, she tests his abilities and showcases her own when he brings her a locked chest: “She transformed her finger into a centipede to slip into the keyhole and survey the lock. Then she reshaped her finger into a bone key, turned it carefully, and the lid snapped open.” The magic in this sequel is darker and bloodier than in the previous entry, and it highlights the crumbling and chaotic world that Springdale has become after the Blood Moon and the wizard’s absence.

A gloomier, gorier sequel that expands the series’ magical universe via an engaging but meandering plot.

Pub Date: March 1, 2026

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 396

Publisher: Self

Review Posted Online: April 30, 2026

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

FANTASY | EPIC FANTASY | ACTION & ADVENTURE FANTASY