A review by bribreez
Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

mysterious 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

4.0

4⭐️/ 3-4🌶️

A new fantasy story set in a world with magical beings that had immense power, as well as a young woman with the ability I couldn’t even begin to fully comprehend. This story followed, Calista “Lis”, a young twenty-two year old woman who lived in Archwood, and had a special ability. Lis had what was described as a special intuition that allowed her to know the future, hear people’s thoughts, and tap into their true intentions as well. This story was a whole new set of world building that was unique but also took me a bit to fully understand. Regardless, when it comes to JLA’s stories, I’m always up to see what she comes up with next.

I had this book on my tbr for quite some time, so I decided to finally tackle it on! Like most fantasy books, the beginning took me a while to get into from the world building, the different types of characters set within the story, and even the characters themselves such as, Lis. I’m going to be completely honest and say, based off of the first one hundred chapters I was kind of confused haha. At some parts I was even questioning, “wait, what’s the female lead character’s name??” But I just checked the synopsis and learned her name is, Calista but mostly goes by Lis. Lis was an interesting character from her ability of intuition (that’s what I’m going with since that’s what she refers to it in the book) to her circumstances that brought her to Archwood. Even while at Archerwood, I could tell that Lis was there for the sake of safety and having a roof over her head and for her friend, Grady. Even early on, I could tell that Lis kept her ability a secret only known to a select few, and if her powers were found out, it could be potentially bad. All in all, first impressions from the beginning half of the story, I was intrigued, but also still unsure of what the plot was, and what Lis was going to have to deal with.

For sure, the majority of the story was all about setting up Lis and Thorne’s stories, but once their intimate moments happened, the romance kicked into full gear. I found it fascinating how Lis went from meeting this seemingly random Hyhborn lord who turned out to be the Prince of Vytrus as well as the same man that she knew many years prior. Lis and Thorne had a mysterious connection to each other. From the moment they met, both Lis and Thorne gravitated towards each other and not just by the way Lis was able to sense Thorne whenever he was near her, but also they instantly connected. I also found it funny how Thorne was blunt most of the time, and that resulted in Lis either getting annoyed, mad, or downright surprised at the things he said. While things got pretty hot and heavy between Thorne and Lis, there were some really tender moments they shared that highlighted the deep connection they formed, and also hinted that there was more to them just being physically with each other. On top of that, the thing I really appreciated was seeing how Thorne tried to accommodate and respect Lis’s wishes despite how Hyhborns usually behaved such as, Thorne giving Lis the choice in what she wanted to do, trying to ask her things, and saying “please”. The things I mentioned may not sound like a big deal, by trust me when reading the book it makes a whole lot more sense! 

Overall, this book ended up being the complete opposite from what I imagined. At first, I assumed this book had something to do with angels? Or something along those lines, but who knows with the way the world was created in this book. To be honest, a good chunk of the book I was often trying to figure out, “what’s the overall purpose/ intent that’s driving Calista’s story?”. Maybe it was just me, but I felt like majority of this book was just Lis and Thorne little by little interacting, and spicy moments. That being said, the real action came into fruition once the climax happened. Unfortunately, towards the end was when things actually started to make somewhat sense and why Calista was actually of importance than she could have ever imagined. As a whole, I liked the romance between Lis and Thorne, the ending half of the story was a mix of suspense and lots of gore. Not to mention, a new twist that I wasn’t expecting which proved to be fascinating. My only hope is that with the next book, there’s more detail in explaining/ exploring both Thorne’s backstory as a Hyhborn Prince and Lis’s heritage. Might just be the first book syndrome in how this is just establishing aspects of the story, but hopefully it’ll prove to be better. Still enjoyed the story and I’m hopeful for the next one.