A SONG OF WRAITHS AND RUIN

Author(s): Roseanne A. Brown

Stand-alone or Series: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin #1

Rating: 4/5 stars

Trigger Warnings: self-harm, anxiety, family death, panic attacks

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin is a debut novel about Karina, a princess who must obtain a king’s heart to resurrect her assassinated mother, and Malik, a boy who must kill the princess to get his sister back from an evil otherworldly creature. As their paths cross, they fall for each other and are faced with hard decisions.

This was defiantly a great fantasy book! An excellent introduction to this series (duology?) that I can’t wait to continue!

Let’s start by talking about the characters and probably a new favourite: Malik. I loved him from his first chapter, and just wanted to protect him from all the monsters in his life. He is kind and selfless, sacrificing everything to save his sisters. His relationship with Nadia was so wholesome and we don’t often see soft, “weak” boys in fantasy. This was something that made me really want more of it! I’m defiantly interested in seeing how his character will develop further in the second book.

Another favourite character is Karina. Karina is trying her hardest to be good enough for everyone but she keeps failing. Her hard work and constant trying is amazing to see and I’m rooting for her to find her happy ending. Also the migraines? I felt it. The scene where the light from her window was hurting her and she needed to close it? I felt that. Coincidently I was suffering from a migraine for most of the time I spent reading this book too. 

SPOILERS START

One thing with Karina is that I hope she doesn’t repeat the mistakes the council and her ancestors did. She already chalked Malik as enemy just because of his ancestors when he literally sacrificed himself to save her. I think this’ll be a problem in the second book and it’s giving me a bit of Amari in Children of Virtue and Vengeance vibes.

SPOILERS END

I loved so much of this book: the writing, the action, the characters, and even the bit of romance that was shown. The magic system and politics in the book have a lot of potential that I hope will be explained more in the future book(s)! I also loved the culture interwoven in the world and the overall feel from the book.

There were some things I didn’t like which made me drop the rating to four stars. The synopsis had me thinking that Karina and Malik will meet earlier in the book and have time to fall in love but they didn’t meet until well into the book. That’s usually something I don’t enjoy in books. It wasn’t too bad in this one, and it wasn’t too insta-lovey but I wished for more development and conversations.

Another thing was some things were abrupt, like her [spoiler] to Tunde. I also didn’t really understand the magic system, and was confused sometimes about what the world thought about magic and if it was mainstream or not. It was eventually explained but I was confused for a bit.

Overall this was a fantastic read and I recommend it to everyone!

Thank you for reading and see you next time ❤