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bookswithserena's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
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? It's complicated
5.0
badwolfreads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Beasts of Ruin (#2 of 3 in a series)
Ayana Gray
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
OPENING LINE: "In the fragile hours before dawn, this city belongs to its monsters."
ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY: Ekon and Koffi have gotten separated and are trying to find their way back to each other while meeting and helping new people along the way.
• Listened to audiobook
• Adventurous
• Great characters
• A little drawn out but there was a pleasant little twist I didnt see coming
• Characters were separated but each went through his/her development
• Complicated the romance part of the story
• Introduced some new, very likeable characters
• Cool to see more darajas and their affinities
chlo_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
4.0
firefox's review against another edition
4.0
A heartfelt and beautiful ending
But if book 3 could hurry, that'd be lovely.
But if book 3 could hurry, that'd be lovely.
that_bookaholic_gal's review against another edition
3.5
The mist shrouded the garden, making it impossible to sense where she was. It almost called to her in a way, even though danger lurked in its clutches. She felt her power warm her from within, a striking contrast to the coolness of the mist. She would find her way out, even if it was the last thing she’d do.
Beasts of Ruin is the sequel to Beasts of Prey (which I loved). It picks up right where the first book leaves off, continuing the journey of Koffi and Ekon.
I wanted to love this one and I was so excited after the first book leaves the reader on a cliffhanger, but I have to say this book fell into the second book syndrome for me. It just felt like mostly filler and the plot moved along at a snail’s pace. I also wasn’t sure of the point of Binti’s point of view and would have preferred just Ekon and Koffi’s storylines. I still love these characters and the plot is still intriguing to me, so I definitely want to read book three, because I think it’s really going to be a winner for me!
If you’re a YA fantasy fan, love forbidden magic and quest plot lines… then I’d recommend this series!
Beasts of Ruin is the sequel to Beasts of Prey (which I loved). It picks up right where the first book leaves off, continuing the journey of Koffi and Ekon.
I wanted to love this one and I was so excited after the first book leaves the reader on a cliffhanger, but I have to say this book fell into the second book syndrome for me. It just felt like mostly filler and the plot moved along at a snail’s pace. I also wasn’t sure of the point of Binti’s point of view and would have preferred just Ekon and Koffi’s storylines. I still love these characters and the plot is still intriguing to me, so I definitely want to read book three, because I think it’s really going to be a winner for me!
If you’re a YA fantasy fan, love forbidden magic and quest plot lines… then I’d recommend this series!
bkwrm1317's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Not sure why, but book 2 just didn’t hit the same for me. I think some of this was how much the reader is bounced around - it’s a bit too disjointed for my taste and turned me off the series unfortunately, as I no longer feel invested.
Timeline jumps, protagonists are separated so jumping between their perspectives in current timeline, just is too much imo. Still decent, but lost my taste for the series.
Timeline jumps, protagonists are separated so jumping between their perspectives in current timeline, just is too much imo. Still decent, but lost my taste for the series.
nihahsah's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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? It's complicated
3.5
whitneymouse's review against another edition
3.0
**Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for the eARC of this title in exchange for this review. This in no way changed my rating**
Beasts of Prey was one of my favorite books this year. It was a stunning debut that was well paced, thoughtful, exciting, and full of new and wonderful mythology waiting for readers to explore it. The characters were great. I had nothing but good things to say about it and was so excited to read the sequel.
This suffered from "middle book syndrome" so badly to the point that I'm unsure if I'm interested in reading book three, which is coming. In a way, this series is like Serpent & Dove in that I think it would have benefitted from being a duology, but was expanded to be a trilogy.
To start with, the pacing was nowhere near as good as the first book. There are three POV characters: Koffi, Ekon, and Binti. I get from the author's note what Gray was trying to do with Binti's POV, exploring heritage and what the outcome could be if we try to distance ourselves from it or deny it, as well as giving us insight into Koffi's mother and family. However, I don't think her POVs were necessary and didn't add a ton to the story, so it just kind of bogged it down. Koffi spends 2/3 of the book kidnapped and undergoing a training montage. Ekon spends that same 2/3 on a drawn out roadtrip (one of my least favorite plot devices). Traveling can be great, but we need a goal urging us forward. Ekon had a goal in mind and somehow, it still becomes a meandering string of wandering until he remembers "oh, yeah! I had a goal!" more than 60% of the way in. I am disappointed to say this book had maybe 2-3 interesting chapters in the middle before going back to being boring. The "interesting" parts happened in the last 6.5 chapters (half because one was Binti's POV and those don't really count). When I have to get through 80% of a book to get to the "good" part, that's a problem.
I'm also going to say, straight up, I hate the trend YA is going in by going back to the love triangle trope (or in this case, love square?). It's so unnecessary and frustrating. I REALLY liked Safiyah as a character until she was becoming a secondary love interest for Ekon for the span of a few chapters. There was no reason for that. Additionally, really liked Zain...until he became a secondary love interest for Koffi. We already spent book one rooting for Ekon and Koffi together. So why am I now supposed to get caught up in hoping they'll be happy with other people while they're STILL on a mission together? That easily was one of the things I disliked the most.
The last thing I want to say, in terms of what I didn't like, is that I think there are going to be some comparisons to Shadow & Bone, which could have been avoided. This book starts out with Koffi having been kidnapped in the last book and taken to an area called Thornkeep, where she's kept with other darajas. All well and good. Here's where the comparison comes in:
-a genocidal maniac with magical powers trains a group of younger people who also have magical powers in his supposedly utopian society for just magic users while teaching them the outside world is bad because they're discriminatory and separating the students into groups by ability which are easily identifiable by color. The main character is "the only magic user" in the group with their power and they don't know how to use that power, so they get trained by others and slowly start to grow confidence, but then are overwhelmed by their power and start to grow power-hungry. This causes an internal conflict.
Sound familiar? Thornkeep is The Little Palace. The darajas are grisha. The kaftans are kefta. The colors are the same, except Gray added one. Koffi and Fedu are essentially Darklina. A large part of this book is Shadow & Bone, but set it in Fantasy Africa instead of Fantasy Russia. I was very frustrated by this situation. There was literally no need for this, especially when book one was so good and so unique.
All of this aside, I did like the character growth Koffi and Ekon both underwent. The characters are Gray's strong point and I like both of them quite a bit. They're flawed, but not so flawed you don't want to root for them. I also like the continued introduction of the god and goddess characters. We meet a new one in this book for a brief moment, but if I read book three, I'm hoping we meet the others. Additionally, we get some new fantasy animals from Gray, and these are also great. The world of Eshōza is vast and well built, which makes readers want to explore. So again, if I read book three, I'm looking forward to seeing more great world building.
Many other reviews note it ends on a cliffhanger. That alone wasn't enough to cause me to want to read book three. So we'll see, but the cliffhanger felt inevitable and wasn't the big reveal a bunch of reviews made it out to be, just as a heads up.
Overall, I'm giving this book a 3.5, rounded to a 3 for GR. The characters and world building continue to be great, but the plot was plodding and it felt like a completely different book than the first entry.
Beasts of Prey was one of my favorite books this year. It was a stunning debut that was well paced, thoughtful, exciting, and full of new and wonderful mythology waiting for readers to explore it. The characters were great. I had nothing but good things to say about it and was so excited to read the sequel.
This suffered from "middle book syndrome" so badly to the point that I'm unsure if I'm interested in reading book three, which is coming. In a way, this series is like Serpent & Dove in that I think it would have benefitted from being a duology, but was expanded to be a trilogy.
To start with, the pacing was nowhere near as good as the first book. There are three POV characters: Koffi, Ekon, and Binti. I get from the author's note what Gray was trying to do with Binti's POV, exploring heritage and what the outcome could be if we try to distance ourselves from it or deny it, as well as giving us insight into Koffi's mother and family. However, I don't think her POVs were necessary and didn't add a ton to the story, so it just kind of bogged it down. Koffi spends 2/3 of the book kidnapped and undergoing a training montage. Ekon spends that same 2/3 on a drawn out roadtrip (one of my least favorite plot devices). Traveling can be great, but we need a goal urging us forward. Ekon had a goal in mind and somehow, it still becomes a meandering string of wandering until he remembers "oh, yeah! I had a goal!" more than 60% of the way in. I am disappointed to say this book had maybe 2-3 interesting chapters in the middle before going back to being boring. The "interesting" parts happened in the last 6.5 chapters (half because one was Binti's POV and those don't really count). When I have to get through 80% of a book to get to the "good" part, that's a problem.
I'm also going to say, straight up, I hate the trend YA is going in by going back to the love triangle trope (or in this case, love square?). It's so unnecessary and frustrating. I REALLY liked Safiyah as a character until she was becoming a secondary love interest for Ekon for the span of a few chapters. There was no reason for that. Additionally, really liked Zain...until he became a secondary love interest for Koffi. We already spent book one rooting for Ekon and Koffi together. So why am I now supposed to get caught up in hoping they'll be happy with other people while they're STILL on a mission together? That easily was one of the things I disliked the most.
The last thing I want to say, in terms of what I didn't like, is that I think there are going to be some comparisons to Shadow & Bone, which could have been avoided. This book starts out with Koffi having been kidnapped in the last book and taken to an area called Thornkeep, where she's kept with other darajas. All well and good. Here's where the comparison comes in:
-a genocidal maniac with magical powers trains a group of younger people who also have magical powers in his supposedly utopian society for just magic users while teaching them the outside world is bad because they're discriminatory and separating the students into groups by ability which are easily identifiable by color. The main character is "the only magic user" in the group with their power and they don't know how to use that power, so they get trained by others and slowly start to grow confidence, but then are overwhelmed by their power and start to grow power-hungry. This causes an internal conflict.
Sound familiar? Thornkeep is The Little Palace. The darajas are grisha. The kaftans are kefta. The colors are the same, except Gray added one. Koffi and Fedu are essentially Darklina. A large part of this book is Shadow & Bone, but set it in Fantasy Africa instead of Fantasy Russia. I was very frustrated by this situation. There was literally no need for this, especially when book one was so good and so unique.
All of this aside, I did like the character growth Koffi and Ekon both underwent. The characters are Gray's strong point and I like both of them quite a bit. They're flawed, but not so flawed you don't want to root for them. I also like the continued introduction of the god and goddess characters. We meet a new one in this book for a brief moment, but if I read book three, I'm hoping we meet the others. Additionally, we get some new fantasy animals from Gray, and these are also great. The world of Eshōza is vast and well built, which makes readers want to explore. So again, if I read book three, I'm looking forward to seeing more great world building.
Many other reviews note it ends on a cliffhanger. That alone wasn't enough to cause me to want to read book three. So we'll see, but the cliffhanger felt inevitable and wasn't the big reveal a bunch of reviews made it out to be, just as a heads up.
Overall, I'm giving this book a 3.5, rounded to a 3 for GR. The characters and world building continue to be great, but the plot was plodding and it felt like a completely different book than the first entry.
ncalv05's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75