A review by youcancallmefi
Ruins of Smoke by João F. Silva

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad 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

5.0

 
Disclaimer: I was gifted an arc of this book by the author, however this has not influenced my review and opinion. 

 

João nails it again! 

Ruins of Smoke is a prequel novella for Seeds of War, book one of The Smokesmiths Series and oh my, how I inhaled both of these books (ah, the pun!). 

João nails my two essential elements to make a great fantasy story: characters and great magic system.  Maintaining the balance of simple yet intricate structure and growth is something quite tricky, but João does it beautifully. 

You would think with the short length of this book, things will be amiss or characters won’t be fleshed out, but you are quite wrong in assuming that. This is a further showcase of João’s talent. I was so invested in the 4 POV’s, whilst the action kept me at the edge of my seat. I felt pain, despair, sorrow and hope from the first sentence of this novella. 

I won’t go into a lot of detail about the magic system and the world building as I want new readers to be as surprised as I was when reading it. It’s so fascinating and neatly done, that it’s refreshing to see in a saturated fantasy world where a lot of ideas have been used. I have to say the bestiary in this novella is also such a neat addition to it! 

Despite being a prequel and setting the scene for the book, I would recommend reading the book first. For me, it made so much sense and the emotions within me ran high devouring this novella, knowing what the stakes were for the future. 

Packed with action, family lore, good vs evil and enticing magic, this series is setting up to be an upmost favourite. 

João is definitively an author to watch and I cannot wait for the next installment of this saga. If completely transparent, I will devour anything he writes, even if it’s a pamphlet !