Hello everyone!
I had the pleasure of buddy reading A Song of Wraiths and Ruin with the wonderful Rendz from ReadingWithRendz. I love buddy reads and I’m so happy that I got to do one for this book, it made the experience even more special.
I was excited to read this book and expected it to love it, but I was STILL surprised by HOW MUCH I ended up loving it. I mentioned the novel briefly in my last post, but I wanted to write a full length review to try and convey some of my love for it. Curious as to why? Keep reading!
A Song of Wraiths and Ruin
Date Published: June 2nd 2020
Publisher: Blazer + Bray
Genre: YA Fantasy
For Malik, the Solstasia festival is a chance to escape his war-stricken home and start a new life with his sisters in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But when a vengeful spirit abducts Malik’s younger sister, Nadia, as payment into the city, Malik strikes a fatal deal—kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia’s freedom.
But Karina has deadly aspirations of her own. Her mother, the Sultana, has been assassinated; her court threatens mutiny; and Solstasia looms like a knife over her neck. Grief-stricken, Karina decides to resurrect her mother through ancient magic . . . requiring the beating heart of a king. And she knows just how to obtain one: by offering her hand in marriage to the victor of the Solstasia competition.
When Malik rigs his way into the contest, they are set on a course to destroy each other. But as attraction flares between them and ancient evils stir, will they be able to see their tasks to the death?
The world building was well executed. I was fascinated by the lore of this world, from the gods/deities to the presence of magic and how it works in the world. There is a big emphasis on stories and storytelling, which I loved. The griots were fascinating to read about. I love a good keeper of stories! The festival and all of the traditions surrounding it were exquisite.
The history between nations and the different tensions that exist between governments was also another aspect of the world that stood out. This aspect involved a discussion on conquering and the consequences of it to the citizens. Brown has incredible world building skills! There are so many facets of it that I could write a short essay on all the aspects I loved about the world.
The writing was easy to follow and not cumbersome, which I enjoyed. The pacing was also great! Everything set into motion quickly, for those of you who don’t like the slow pace of fantasy. I think A Song of Wraiths and Ruin’s pace is great for everyone.
The aspect of the story that stood to for me the most was the characters and their development. I love world building but give me a well developed character and I will love them even more! Karina and Malik are amazing characters and the work put into their development is wonderful. A Song of Wraiths and Ruin doesn’t give the reader these perfect fantasy heroes, no no no. The novel gives the reader some messy characters. Characters dealing with their mental health while the world spins out of control around them. Their complexity and layers were extremely well done.
As I mentioned I loved both main characters Karina and Malik. However, I found myself very invested in Malik. Karina’s storyline was extremely poignant and I was glad to see the topic of grief and chronic migraines being discussed in the context of Fantasy. Karina’s tenacity was admirable! She did not take any nonsense from her peers and I loved it. Every time she proved to everyone that she was more than people believed I cheered.
Malik was just on another level! A male character with anxiety, wow. We don’t see many of those. I loved the use of the mantra for the purpose of calming himself and getting through his panic attacks. I even started using it myself to ground myself when my anxiety arises. Malik is such a cinnamon roll, I can’t! He’s growth is centered around his naïveté, which was again well done and developed. Rarely do we see a male character who is so caring of his family. We see protective males all the time, but caring? No so much and that’s why Malik is just the best. Also, loves to tell stories!
Seeing both of these characters coping with mental health and the stressors of their world was an inspiring experience. I loved how mental health was discussed fully in the novel, it wasn’t glossed over as something they experience because it is part of their everyday lives.
Overall, I loved A Song of Wraiths and Ruin! It was everything I expected and more. The discussion of mental health and the world building were amazing. I would recommend it to fantasy lovers and those new to fantasy as well.
Rating
I really loved some of the quotes from the book, so I made some bookmarks!
I used Unsplash for the pictures. I wanted to create one that was based on water because that is my Alignment according to astrology in the book. If you want to found out yours look at this post from EpicReads!