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Title: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin
Author: Roseanne A. Brown
Sub-genre: Fantasy
So not going to lie, after bingeing a ton of fantasy romance in recent months, this month (and a little bit last month) I had a really hard time sticking with my fantasy reads. I don’t know what is happening in my brain, but it’s like there was too much going on in there for me to be able to fully give over to the worlds of fantasy books. Which is a huge bummer. So I was kind of nervous to pick up ASOWAR because I’d really been looking forward to it, and I didn’t want my broken brain to detract from my enjoyment of the book. Luckily, I was able to dive right into this one, and for a couple of days at least, my fantasy block was cured.
Malik is a refugee trying to escape to Ziran with his two sisters, one older, one younger. When his younger sister is taken by an evil spirit-god-like being, he makes a deal with said being: he’ll kill the princess in exchange for his sister’s safety. He of course, has no way to get close to the princess, until he remembers the Solstasia competition. Malik unlocks his long suppressed magic in order to finagle himself a spot as a challenger, granting him access to the palace and the princess Karina. Karina is dealing with some major struggles of her own–namely the assassiantion of her mother, which no one can know about. Karina has long been looked at as being flighty and irresponsible, she wouldn’t even be the heir to the throne if it weren’t for the unfortunate death of her older sister, along with their father. When her mother is killed, Karina is left to fend for herself, and when she discovers a traitor is hiding amongst her council, she doesn’t have anyone to trust. Malik and Karina cross paths often during the competition, and every time Malik fails to kill the princess. The two grow closer as they begin to unravel the mysteries of magic, alliances, and power. This is book one of what (as of right now) is slated to be a duology.
I mean, one of the biggest things I can say about this book is it sucked me in, despite having a serious mental block around fantasy books right now. I was in from page one. I thought the world-building was absolutely gorgeous, striking the perfect balance between rich details and not being too overwhelming. But my favorite part (no surprise here) was the relationship between Malik and Karina. I loved watching them explore their feelings for each other, but more importantly, I really enjoyed watching them find their voices. They both start out as the over-looked and “weak” members of their respective families, but by the end of book one, they have each grown and matured. Their journeys were interesting and realistic and heartfelt. The only thing I didn’t like was now I have to wait for book two!
Overall Rating: 5 stars