Name: ash (smokedshelves)'s review of A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown
Item: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin
Rating: 4
Author: ash (smokedshelves)

Roseanne A. Brown

The first in a gripping debut fantasy duology inspired by West African folklore in which a grieving crown princess and a desperate refugee find themselves on a collision course to murder each other despite their growing attraction--from debut author Roseanne A. Brown. Perfect for fans of Tomi Adeyemi, Renée Ahdieh, and Sabaa Tahir. For Malik, the Solstasia festival is a chance to escape his war-stricken home and start a new life with his sisters in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But when a vengeful spirit abducts his younger sister, Nadia, as payment to enter the city, Malik strikes a fatal deal--kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia's freedom. But Karina has deadly aspirations of her own. Her mother, the Sultana, has been assassinated; her court threatens mutiny; and Solstasia looms like a knife over her neck. Grief-stricken, Karina decides to resurrect her mother through ancient magic . . . requiring the beating heart of a king. And she knows just how to obtain one: by offering her hand in marriage to the victor of the Solstasia competition. When Malik rigs his way into the contest, they are set on a heart-pounding course to destroy each other. But as attraction flares between them and ancient evils stir, will they be able to see their tasks to the death?

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin

Julia C

"When the moon began to set, I'd wait with my hands beneath it until it sank right into them. And then I'd turn around and give it to you."

Krystal Campbell 

for reference, the disability rep: MMC has panic attacks/anxiety and FMC has migraines

ash (smokedshelves)

arwen

the world building and karinamalik were everything

Sarah Sammis

A Song of Wraiths & Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown is the start of a new fantasy series set in an alternate Africa that blends West African folklore and North African history. Malik and his two sisters are looking for a better life in the city state of Ziran. Meanwhile Karina, the princess and heir to the throne is suddenly faced with being the Sultana when her mother is assassinated on the night before the Solstasia festival, a multiple day event that restores the power of the barrier that keeps Ziran safe.

Fantastic. Captivating. Marvelous.

00CCCC - privileged uhoria maze

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2020/comm...

Colleen

3 Stars

*A Fantasy debut novel with an awesome premise but the standard pitfalls of YA books*


There are some things that I repeat so often in reviews that I feel like a broken record:

“Why the hell is present tense narration so popular?”
“Why are Young Adult books so angsty?”
“Pretty much the only thing that gets me to read YA anymore is if it’s about mythology/folklore.”
“Why is taco seasoning only sold in packets instead of jars? Don’t they realize how many tacos I need??”

Ok, ok. That last one doesn’t make it into my reviews, but I think it every time I’m at the grocery store.

But I digress. 

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin is a debut novel inspired by West African folklore. As I mentioned, I’m a sucker for anything to do with mythology or folklore. And I’m always on the hunt for books that explore mythology other than Greek and Norse. (Because as great as those are, there are too many other fascinating pantheons that deserve more page time!) So yes, I was excited to find a book inspired by West Africa.


  “Nothing good can come of a place that refuses to see the pain of the people on whose backs it was built.”

In the story, two teens are pitted against each other as they each desperately try to fulfill their respectively missions. Malik, a poor refugee who sees otherworldly spirits, is desperate to rescue his sister from a demon. Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, is just as determined to bring her mother back to life and safe the kingdom that teeters on the brink of war.


  “Do not underestimate the strength it takes to be kind in a world as cruel as ours.” 

The plot was pretty standard. There wasn’t anything shocking, but the story was fast-paced, easy to read, and never lost my interest. The elements of folklore were by far what I liked about this book (not surprisingly). They enhanced an already interesting world.

The story started off so promising, but the ending dampened my enthusiasm. The instalove up to that point had been annoying but low-level enough to be pushed aside. But it steadily increased until the main characters’ angsty determination to be moony, doomed lovers was exasperatingly ever-present. And then it just had to turn into a love triangle. Because God forbid a Young Adult heroine not be torn between two lovesick swains! I guess the book title with the current YA trend of “A Blank1 of Blank2 and Blank3” should have been my first flag that some YA corniness lurked ahead.

Despite the instalove and love triangle, I do still plan on reading the sequel. Hopefully, it will expand on the worldbuilding and mythological elements as well as delving more into the character development. And if we’re very lucky, the angst will be toned down some.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Rachel Kanyid

Definitely worth a read. Not the typical fantasy story setting and it was very engaging!

Pien van Nunen

** spoiler alert **
           4.25* 
good anxiety rep, enemies to lovers, rip tunde💞

Sven Test

At the very beginning, I was kind of wondering where everything would go in the story and how it would come to fruition. But then, the world building sucks you in! It's very developed, not confusing at all, and intriguing from the start! There's lots of intrigue and suspense to keep you on your toes, which I loved!

Each patron deity ruled over a single day of the week, and when a child was born, the midwife would carve the emblem of one of the seven gods into their left palm so every person could know their Alignment.

This fantasy surprised me because it portrays Mental Health, one that's so close to my life, so I was able to relate in that aspect with Malik. I loved that while the MH is talked about, it's not the forefront of Malik's character. It also ends up being such a strength! I loved the twist the author did on this.

"This is my mind. I am the strongest person here."

While this has romance, it's not FULLY the focus. There's also a focus on the family. Malik and his sisters have such a bond that they'd do ANYTHING for each other!

Megan Lowe

3.5 stars.

This was an okay book for me. I liked the magic system, and the characters, especially Afua, Tunde, and Nadia.
But I felt the story itself was lacking.
I didn’t get romance, at all.
I got family love from Malik but not from Karina.
I didn’t get a strong basis of the events that happened or what transpired.
I thought I would really love this book, but it fell flat for me.

Dee B. 

I have ONE question. How long do I have to wait until book 2 is out?????

Okay. Here are my thoughts. Roseanna A. Brown is ridiculously good at what she does. How does she make someone want both the opposing sides to win? Like...somebody hasss to lose where power struggles and life and death are concerned, yet, there I was routing for Malik and Karina to both get what they wanted. I bought into their struggles, I empathized with their stories. How is that possible? And then the way it ended? With so many possibilities. Brilliant!

Everyone should read this. It's a book that creeps into your heart and you should let it.

laura

4,75 
THIS WAS SO GOOD OH MY GOSH I NEED THE SECOND BOOK RN 💳💥💳💥💳

Zahia Saeed 

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!! 
This has become my new favorite.
The world building⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The smooth flow of the plot🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥⭐
the names of the characters(so interesting,i love)
Chronic migraine and anxiety rep? Check 💓💓💓💓💓

I had to finish it asap. 
Malik oh malik my baby, he isnt the typical male chracter we usually see in ya fantasy. I love him so much.

Livia

minus one star for the romance. minus one star for karina being difficult. plus point for the mental health rep. plus point for the world. another bonus point for malik being the sweetest person to exist while also having a great character development

anessa lawrence 

i love the whole i have to kill you to save someone i love trope now. this book is quite hard to get into at first but really picks up around page 150. that’s when things start to snowball and gets more serious. i love the aspect of magic in here and the characters are so easy to love.

Alex Q

Exactly the story of magic and storytelling I was looking for.

Sabetha Danes

While this isn't something I would normally read (YA, love triangley, saving the world rests on a teen, etc tropes) the reviews on it drove me to picking up a copy. 

I LOVED the duel POV, it gave the world so must depth, as Malik and Karina are from vastly different upbringings. They each viewed the events in ways that drew me into their unique stories, while giving so much world info without dumping. The books doesn't read like the cliche tropes at all.

The magic system is fantastic, the more i learned about it, the more i wanted to experience people using it and the lore of the city was unique. Love me some fantasy festivals. The culture, political intrigue and characters were well written and kept the story moving at a need more pace. There were so many things at the end that i was like OH SHIT, didn't see that coming. But it also followed some tropes so some thing were as predicted. Overall, I would say it was a great balance. 

Karina's character growth throughout the book is palpable. From her unwanted beginnings to her assertive endings. I am excited to see where the next book takes her, as she has so many strengths, but also a lot of baggage to work through. 

While i have predictions for these two characters, I do hope that the author put s spin on tired YA tropes in the second book. There is so much redemption, revenge, and world building that I want more of, so I will for sure be reading it!

Risa C

During the rising action of this book, I was already planning on starting this review with how disappointed I was in this new release, but clearly this review hasn't started that way, so something must have happened in the final part of the book to have given me pause. Having read this on Kindle, I can say with some certainty that it was the final 20% of the story that saved this book from being a solidly mediocre two-star read and now has me seriously considering picking up the second book when it comes out.

The premise and the structure of the book were very promising: alternating points of view between two protagonists with diametrically opposed objectives. This should work towards building tension in the narrative until it becomes unbearable and the reader is torn between one or the other, but it fails, because one motivation is clearly nobler, more thought out, and just better in every way than the other. It's Malik's; Malik's chapters were much better. Which isn't to say that they were amazing; this book takes its time during a long, laborious run-up, which I don't really mind, but it felt like we were going through the motions during the whole middle section of the book, with the Challenges and the Festival, without adding much to the central conflict or progressing the narrative meaningfully. We know that Malik has to kill Karina and Karina has to kill someone who could be Malik; the book drags this conflict on to the point where I just wanted one of them to stick a knife in the other.

The one huge problem I had with Karina's part of the narrative was that her motivation, though understandable at the time she sets out on her resurrection scavenger hunt, withers away and becomes paper-thin by the time Malik's becomes more desperate and necessary. Malik is dealing with real stakes, but Karina justifies continuing with her plan when she sees how stupid it is, by convincing herself that she is in too deep, when, in reality, she hasn't sacrificed anything, hasn't gone past the point of return, and could literally just not resurrect her mother. It's lazy character writing solely in furtherance of pushing the narrative.

Actually, I found myself irritated at several points during both Malik and Karina's inner monologues. I think that exploring and overcoming feelings of insecurity and inadequacy are important, especially for the targeted audience of YA, but it got so tedious having to read them repeatedly wrestle with all that self-doubt internally, when externally, they were doing things and progressing the plot, which should have also prompted more positive self-reflection and character development.

What saves this book is the climax and falling action. I guessed at a lot of the twists that Brown would throw at us (the political intrigue aspect of this book is quite weak and easy to unravel early on), but there were also a lot of things that genuinely surprised me. These were nice surprises that made sense and called back to little details Brown had planted earlier on, which I really appreciated. A lot about this book is predictable, but Brown still produced an exciting and satisfying ending that also works as an interesting jumping off point for Book Two.

Lastly, I was pretty indifferent to the romance, which is fine. It's not really insta-love, but it doesn't get much deeper than thirsty thoughts about each other's eyes. Since this book is YA, you'd think that the romance would be a bigger part of it, but it's kind of just written in, because it seems like it has to be. I didn't find myself rooting for these crazy kids and I feel like Brown wasn't too concerned with getting us to that point, since so much of the story is really that central conflict of who's going to end up killing the other one, and, fair play to her, she respects that conflict and doesn't throw it out for some cheap love story. It will be interesting to see the relationship develop throughout the series.

Amelia Halliday

The world building? Incredible. Character development? Immaculate. This book has everything I love from interesting magic to political intrigue. I love all the imagery and the way it feels like you’re reading a folk tale that is still unfolding. I can’t wait to read the next book ❤️

An instant New York Times bestseller! The first in a gripping fantasy duology inspired by West African folklore in which a grieving crown princess and a desperate refugee find themselves on a collision course to murder each other despite their growing attraction--from debut author Roseanne A. Brown. This New York Times bestseller is perfect for fans of Tomi Adeyemi, Renée Ahdieh, and Sabaa Tahir. For Malik, the Solstasia festival is a chance to escape his war-stricken home and start a new life with his sisters in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But when a vengeful spirit abducts his younger sister, Nadia, as payment to enter the city, Malik strikes a fatal deal--kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia's freedom. But Karina has deadly aspirations of her own. Her mother, the Sultana, has been assassinated; her court threatens mutiny; and Solstasia looms like a knife over her neck. Grief-stricken, Karina decides to resurrect her mother through ancient magic . . . requiring the beating heart of a king. And she knows just how to obtain one: by offering her hand in marriage to the victor of the Solstasia competition. When Malik rigs his way into the contest, they are set on a heart-pounding course to destroy each other. But as attraction flares between them and ancient evils stir, will they be able to see their tasks to the death? "Magic creates a centuries-long divide between peoples in this stunning debut novel inspired by North African and West African folklore. An action-packed tale of injustice, magic, and romance, this novel immerses readers in a thrilling world and narrative reminiscent of Children of Blood and Bone." (Publishers Weekly, "An Anti-Racist Children's and YA Reading List")

Bailey Sawka

I thought this was pretty good but really slow. It’s kind of a slow burn kind of romance with magic and spirits and a high stakes competition and rituals involved. There are SO MANY typos that sometimes make it difficult to figure out what the author is saying. The last 100 pages or so make the writing seem to speed up but I wish it didn’t move so slowly. It took nearly 100 pages just to kind of introduce the plot line. I will read the second to figure out what happens with the feast of the story because it is a little bit of a cliffhanger but I hope it’s better than this one was.

Kathleen Mullins

I really enjoyed this as a fantasy, was hoping for a little more romance but I think this book set itself up for an incredible follow up.

Shelby Goodwin

WOW. Seriously, wow. This is one of the most compelling premises for a fantasy series I have ever had the pleasure to read. Based on an ancient West African myth, ASOWAR follows two perspectives--a grief-stricken princess and a frantic young refugee. Their lives collide (literally) as the momentous Solstasia festival finds the two secretly plotting to kill one another--each totally unbeknownst to the other’s murder plot--at the same time they are forming a flirtatious relationship together. Malik and Karina’s perspectives alternate equally throughout the book and I absolutely loved this choice of storytelling method. The contrast between their separate experiences, as well as their interactions, made for nonstop intrigue and I just couldn’t get enough of either of these characters!

While Malik is endearingly clueless, he is also fiercely determined and quick on his feet. You cannot help but root for him to succeed. Karina is spoiled and devious, but so very relatable at every turn--a character you desperately want to reign victorious as well...Of course, both characters cannot win in the end, so you can imagine how this high-stakes conflict creates an invariably fast-paced plot! I appreciate so much that through these characters, Brown achieves the most realistic portrayal of both depression and anxiety that I have ever seen in the YA fantasy genre. Even the supporting characters were richly developed and I adored the fact that she dedicated this book to black children everywhere; she imbued every page of this story with--to borrow her phrasing--all the “black girl magic” and “black boy joy” you could possibly imagine.

I quickly found myself OBSESSED with the world and mythology of Ziran, the seven birth Alignments, and ritualistic magical systems of this amazing fantasy tale. As countless betrayals, twists, and heartbreaks ensue throughout the narrative, I found it so hard to put this one down. And y’all--THAT ENDING. UGH, I need the sequel, like, YESTERDAY. It has been so long since I have found such a gloriously fresh and unique book in the YA fantasy genre--do yourself a favor and read this please!

Leah | @LeahsLittlePleasures

Ahh what a story! I absolutely LOVED the West African folklore interwoven throughout - there's mythical creatures, magic, and spirit worlds 😍 I even looked up said creatures to have a better understanding of what they were which is right up my alley. It felt very reminiscence of ancient Egypt or definitely had that sort of vibe at times which I guess makes complete sense considering the geography of both areas. This story has all the basic epic fantasy fixin's - magic, a (sort-of) love triangle, and major plot twists all over the place. The bad guy that you think might be the bad guy isn't really the bad guy, and the growth & connection between both Karina and Malik was just 💗💗💗 A wonderful fantasy novel to boot!

Tatiana Alvarez 

This will be a short, sweet review because I plan on adding more once I have my buddy reading discussion.

Likes:
-Malik, he was my favorite character. The author did a great job portraying his anxiety and showing how he handles it. He also has a fierce love for his family and will literally do anything for them.
-Fantastic world building
-Easy and enjoyable

Dislikes:
-There were far too many things going on at the end, it was almost comical.
- Reminded me a little of The Red Queen series and I'm not a fan of that series.

I will definitely be listening to the second book when it comes out.

Alexia Beatrice Guglielmi

3-3.5 stars 


  Read this if you like: a super-sweet main character (Malik), mental illness rep, West African folklore, and a surprisingly addictive read!
Don’t read this if you don’t like: a very rude main character (Karina), insta-love, unexplained magic systems, underdeveloped side characters, and typical YA fantasy tropes.

Unusually long review, so please bear with me. Let’s start with the good, shall we?

Malik is such a lovable character. He’s sweet, caring, and gives a certain love interest (who is very, very rude) one too many chances, in my humble opinion. He’s stuck between two impossible choices and it’s quite easy to empathize with him. He also experiences pretty severe panic attacks, which I thought were executed very well by Brown (sidenote: I’ve never experienced a panic attack myself, so this is entirely from an outsider’s perspective).

I loved how the West African folklore was incorporated, and particularly enjoyed it when we got stories within the story. Overall, it was a good read that was mostly satisfying. 

And now, onto the parts I enjoyed a bit less. 

This story is told from two POVs: Malik and Karina. I liked one of them, but unfortunately got close to hating the other. Karina has her fair share of trauma from surviving a fire that killed her father and older sister, which is why she’s so emotionally reactive, but she’s also horrible to the few people who are still in her life. She only feels guilty for her words when she’s in need of the emotional support those people could offer her—it’s never really an “oh, that was a bad thing to say; I wish I could take it back” but more of an “oh, I wish hadn’t said that bad thing so the person I hurt could be comforting me right now”. See the problem? Don’t get me wrong; I’m not opposed to mean main characters. What I am opposed to, however, is when we’re expected to root for said mean MC when they’ve done nothing to earn our support. I don’t think she ever did anything redeeming! (view spoiler)[choosing Malik over Tunde doesn’t count and neither does choosing not to kill Tunde, imo, since one is for the love story and the other is because killing is bad (hide spoiler)] Her spite extends to Malik as well, and she ends up telling him some really nasty things throughout the book. Which brings me to my next point: 

The romance isn’t believable. I guess that’s a very subjective thing to say, because if insta-love just so happens to be your thing, you’d be hard pressed to disagree with me. But where I was expecting lots of pining and angst (I mean, the conflict is literally them needing to kill each other to get back someone they love dearly, yet they also need to deal with their growing attraction!), I only received forced romance. It had so much potential to develop into a heart wrenching ‘relationship’, but they literally had two separate instances of alone time before they started struggling with how they’re supposedly falling for each other.

This is a long review already so I’ll try to wrap up my last points. First, the magic system. It’s unexplained (which is fine), but it also came out of nowhere to me (view spoiler)[I didn’t realize magic by humans was canonical at all until after Malik summoned the hare figure (hide spoiler)]. The magic at the climactic moment was even more confusing. I would have appreciated a bit more exposition/allusion, but it’s not a huge factor in terms of affecting how much I enjoyed this book, so let’s move on. 

The side characters are woefully underdeveloped. I wanted more of Malik’s sister, more of Karina’s two friends, more of Tunde! A lot more of Tunde. (view spoiler)[I didn’t care that much when he died; it was more of a lingering sadness. If we’d gotten to know him a bit more, not only would Karina’s final choice have been a lot more impactful, but we would have properly felt the impossibility of her decision. (hide spoiler)]

Sometimes things seemed to happen for the sake of adding tension (view spoiler)[Why was the crowd going crazy despite the lack of evidence? Did they really believe a man they (probably) didn’t know over their sultana? (hide spoiler)] or convenience (view spoiler)[challenging Karina to the wakama tournament just to get rid of the last female Champion. Nitpicky, I know (sorry) (hide spoiler)]. I predicted the villain well before the 100 page mark, but I’m not sure if that counts for anything. And about the gods: (view spoiler)[having meddling gods complicates a lot of the plot, because it makes you think there must have been different ways to handle the story that wouldn’t involve Malik and Karina ever meeting, for example (hide spoiler)]. 

I wish Solstasia and the challenges the Champions faced played a larger role in the story. The celebrations seemed so interesting, but unfortunately it was more of a backdrop for Malik and Karina’s love story (for lack of a better word). 

Having said all that, every time I put this book down, I found myself itching to pick it back up. It might have something to do with how I'm using reading as an excuse to avoid the three essays I need to write, but I guess we'll never know. I'll definitely be ordering the sequel and I’m excited to read it nonetheless. I’m hoping for a Karina redemption arc and a believable romance :)

Maria

DNF @35%
вот вроде всё автор спланировала, и мир, и героев. а жизни в тексте нет.

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A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

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