Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Ruinsong

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Ruinsong by Julia Ember

39 reviews

qraveline's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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letrickster's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

It was fine? I'm not a huge YA person so that definitely affected my opinion but it really just didn't do it for me. The romance and the ending were incredibly rushed and it all felt like it got resolved way too neatly and easily. Despite this, it was also incredibly slow. I really enjoyed the first quarter or so of the book. I think the tension was set up well and the scenes were suitably unsettling. Then things slowed down pretty hard, and very little happened. As it wore on I just got very bored, I almost dnfed but I managed to skim through to the end, although it didn't much improve my opinion. I really wish the middle section

when Cadence and Remi are together at the palace was longer and had some more intrigue. It felt like it was only a few days, which in my mind, didn't feel like enough time for any of the things that happened to occur. Remi was threatened, but I feel like she didn't really end up being used against Cadence at all. The stakes just felt really low.

I wanted to romance to be good, and I felt like it would've been if it had more time to develop, but it felt really unearned.

The characters were just fine, they're teenagers so I can excuse a lot of their choices behaviour based on that, but I just ended up not really caring about them. I liked Cadence a lot at the beginning, but idk by the end I was just kinda done.

I really wish I liked it more, I wanted to, I think it's decent YA but it just Really did not do it for me.

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lqvekanej's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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grey_jayne's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Beware, there is dog death and some vomit, but this shows how harrowing the emotional abuse dealt at Cadence is. This is a dark sapphic story and Julia Ember knew the assignment. It's dark, it's romantic, with intense emotional stakes and perpetual danger. It's glorious...and in a world where magic is sung! I love both Cadence and Remi and their story is painfully yet beautifully queer. There's hope in the end, it's not all sorrow and tiny glances, and be prepared for singer mage battles while also their gentle healing magicks. Ruinsong is both complex and very real. So worth your time and attention.

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achay91's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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transpercy_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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bunnykisses's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book was a fun quick & easy read. I loved the idea of a magic system based on singing, and the changes in power (minor spoiler)

from non-mage, to the mage. There was not much in-depth discussion on what this meant to the characters ie. was it justified for the oppressed to then turn into the oppressors? It was mentioned but only surface level.

The only reason why I am not rating it any higher is that the romance did not have much build-up. It's like an old-friends-to-lovers plot but the friendship isn't really developed and the romance is very quick. I love that it is LGBTQ and it was a very fun read. Just not super complex. It was almost too easy seeing them fall for each other. Overall if you want an easy read with magic, revenge, overthrowing the government, and lesbians, this is a good book to pick up.

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tinysierra's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

-I love the idea of song magic! That was the coolest part of the book
-Friends to lovers
-polyamory (side characters)
-As other reviews said… it was kind of bland and there was no real build up. It was a decent story but the plot and the romance in it were not really strong.

I recommend Of Fire and Stars over Ruinsong because it still has a sapphic couple, elemental magic, royalty/court politics, a similar scene to one in this book where the couple rides a horse together. it’s cute lol
and the romance in that book stands out more.

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sarah984's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I thought this was a really fun idea for a story, and the singing magic was cool. Everything was tense and the stakes felt high. Most of the characters were interesting.

However, the characters we spend our time focused on are probably the least interesting of the bunch. They spend a lot of time complaining and making impulsive decisions (and then complaining that people don't trust them not to make impulsive decisions) and you only kind of hear about other characters doing cool things in the background. The ending wraps up extremely fast so a lot of the victories don't really feel earned. I get the idea of noting every character’s skintone instead of making special note of who wasn't white, but it really drove home how white the core cast still was so I don't know if it helped.

Also this is a nitpick but if you're retelling Phantom of the Opera and you drop ZERO chandeliers? You're doing it wrong.

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briely's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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