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suprminny's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book gave me a lot of hunger ganes vibes and i love the characters so much, since i could related to them especially Malik. Note to the author, please stop killing my faves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Racism
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, and Animal death
jackiepreston's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Racism, Murder, Death, and Death of parent
raccoonbirb_'s review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Violence
Minor: Self harm
abutler's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Xenophobia and Grief
Minor: Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
kim_kv's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I. loved. this book! Couldn't stop reading. Yes, I predicted some, but it was surprising/well done enough I didn't mind. It wasn't really a romance primarily but it worked for me. What make this 5 stars for me - it managed to be both creatively magical and fantastical and also be so real. The descriptions of the main characters' feelings/experiences including of grief/pain, anxiety, being bullied, re-discovering yourself, etc. really resonated with me. So to have that and also have this strong fantasy world and trope-studded plot (in a good way) was awesome. Mid-way through I realized this was kind of a fantasy take on How to Lose a Guy in 10 days and I didn't hate that. Excited for the sequel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm
alizam's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This is the example of what YA fantasy can and should be. A brilliant story that knows when to subvert and when to use standby tropes, wrapped in an immersive setting and beautiful mythology. I appreciated the way mental health was handled as well. The protagonists are flawed, yes, but deeply sympathetic and complex.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Murder, Mental illness, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Death, Death of parent, Colonisation, Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, and Xenophobia
monicalaurette's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“Do not underestimate the strength it takes to be kind in a world as cruel as ours.”
I am so upset with myself for how long it took me to get this book, and then to start reading it after acquiring it because this book was so good. I don’t even know if I could accurately describe in words what I really liked about it, and I have notes!
One aspect of this book that I really loved was Malik’s anxiety. I loved how real it was and I was able to relate to the feeling each time. “Breathe. Stay present. Stay here.” When I first read that as the tool Malik uses for his anxiety, I found myself closing the book and rethinking my own panic attacks. If I had followed those rules before, my senior year of college may have been easier to handle. And when Adetunde gave him the elastic to help I fell in love with him. Which made the ending that much harder.
The characters in this story were so well-flushed out and truly individual to me. And being so flushed-out it helped move their individual arcs across while not completely rewriting a character (which I’ve seen). They were each able to grow, change, adapt, but still stay themselves and fight for the things most important to them, even if that thing changed over the course of the book, it was still a driving force for Karina & Malik.
So many twists in this book that I didn’t see coming, characters that I loved in the beginning that turned out to be on the wrong side and I had to rethink my choices; at one point I even looked down at my notes and saw that I wrote down how much I liked a character after they were revealed...like damn. Hit me in my darn soul.
“I don’t think you’re weak for being scared. I don’t think you could be as strong as you are if you weren’t.”
A Song of Wraiths and Ruin receives a 5-star rating from me. The world building was amazing, and never something that was ‘too much’ or overbearing to me while reading, I can’t wait to see more of it in the next one (please release soon!).
One last thing I want to say, because I thought it was funny, was that the three sibling’s names were in alphabetical order; I don’t know if anyone else saw that, maybe it was done on purpose. Either way, it gave me a chuckle. LMN: Leila, Malik Nadia.
“But the fear that centuries of brutality had instilled in his people propelled him forward.”
There are things I want to add to this but can’t get the right words written out, like how Eshra is an occupied/colonized land, and the Eshrans are a hated people for it. It brought a whole new level to the story of the siblings and I know my words on it won’t do the sentiment justice.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, and Death
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Vomit
chelseawrites21's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
After a spirit adducts his sister, Malik must win a contest, emerge as King, and kill the Crown princess for his sister's freedom. Meanwhile, struggling with the death of her mother, Princess Karina seeks the heart of a king to resurrect her. Yet, against all odds, the two fall in love with each other.
Pros
+Malik personality. You don't see much soft bois in YA. Malik was so soft and adorable and empathic. It nice change from these brooding bad boys about we always see.
+anxiety rep. The anxiety rep is so good especially when Malik had a panic attack. I am so glad to finally see some good mental health rep. I especially since love or anything else didn't cure his anxiety by the end.
+competition. I like the idea of the Champion competition and the different Aligned champions
+the twists and turns at the end redeemed the book for me and made me look forward to reading the sequel.
+history. Learning some of the history and how it all came into play at the end was interesting.
Cons
-slowpaced. I feel like the focus is so heavy on emotions and not enough on the characters task. I feel like that got nothing done until late in the book.
-Karina. Karina was so immature and infuriating to read about. She was constantly making rash decisions in her hot headness. She was also pushed everyone away and damaged her image. I mean, I know she's a teenager dealing with a lot of unprocessed grief, but that did make it any less frustrating to read. She gets better by the end but it doesn't erase the first half of the book.
-infodumps. Sometimes I felt like I was reading a history textbook. Characters would record history of the city and while it was interesting, I was left wondering what the importance of it was.
-development. Character development didn't come until exactly 65% percent of the book.
-lack of chemistry. The protagonists spend so time apart for more than first half of the book. Their chemistry felt rushed and sudden.
This book was different than I thought it would be. It was more tame. I thought it would have more action and less dialogue.
Pros
+Malik personality. You don't see much soft bois in YA. Malik was so soft and adorable and empathic. It nice change from these brooding bad boys about we always see.
+anxiety rep. The anxiety rep is so good especially when Malik had a panic attack. I am so glad to finally see some good mental health rep. I especially since love or anything else didn't cure his anxiety by the end.
+competition. I like the idea of the Champion competition and the different Aligned champions
+the twists and turns at the end redeemed the book for me and made me look forward to reading the sequel.
+history. Learning some of the history and how it all came into play at the end was interesting.
Cons
-slowpaced. I feel like the focus is so heavy on emotions and not enough on the characters task. I feel like that got nothing done until late in the book.
-Karina. Karina was so immature and infuriating to read about. She was constantly making rash decisions in her hot headness. She was also pushed everyone away and damaged her image. I mean, I know she's a teenager dealing with a lot of unprocessed grief, but that did make it any less frustrating to read. She gets better by the end but it doesn't erase the first half of the book.
-infodumps. Sometimes I felt like I was reading a history textbook. Characters would record history of the city and while it was interesting, I was left wondering what the importance of it was.
-development. Character development didn't come until exactly 65% percent of the book.
-lack of chemistry. The protagonists spend so time apart for more than first half of the book. Their chemistry felt rushed and sudden.
This book was different than I thought it would be. It was more tame. I thought it would have more action and less dialogue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Xenophobia
Minor: Self harm
anna_23's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Self harm
arkenst0ne's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Murder, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Blood