So Ally’s new book came out on January 20 (sorry this review is a little later than planned—midterms happened…so…you know) but, for those of you who haven’t bought your copy yet, I suggest you do. Ally’s new book is different from anything she has previously written with the character of Grace being distinctly different from Carter’s previous characters of Cammie and Kat. In both the Gallagher Girls and Heist Society series, Ally writes about two strong and level-headed heroines but, in her Embassy Row series Grace is far from being calm and collective. I hate to say it but Grace is crazy, and not in the cutesy girlie way…no is she seriously delusional, and has been ever since her mother’s death. Because of this, it sets this character apart from Ally’s other characters whom the reading world loves and connects to. Here, it is a little harder to connect to Grace because she is constantly being doubted and has no one to believe her. This drives Grace insane and motivates her to try to catch the murderer herself. However I’m not saying that Grace is all bad, she has some very admirable qualities; like the fact that she will stop at nothing to bring her mother’s death to justice. In addition to Ally’s new cast of characters, she also is writing in a new setting. I found the idea of living where all the countries foreign embassies are located pretty interesting, and I think that with this new setting Ally is able to take the story further and develop conflicts and issues that would have never arisen had she chose a more local setting. Therefore All Fall Down is so different from any other book Ally Carter has ever written and definitely deserves 5 out of 5 stars.
(PS: For those of you who don’t know, this IS a series and not a novel. Ally has been currently been reporting via her website blog and twitter that she is in the midst of writing the first draft of the sequel to All Fall Down.)