A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A Brown [Book #1]

Content Tags: Emotional Abuse, Parent Death, Violence, Self-Harm, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Physical Abuse, Animal Death

I was already excited to read this book and got even more excited when I saw the Author's Note including trigger warnings. I would love to see more of these.

"A Note from the Author

Please note this book depicts issues of mild self-harm ideation, fantasy violence, emotional and physical abuse, anxiety and panic attacks, parent death, and animal death. I have done my best to approach these topics with sensitivity, but if you feel this kind of content may be triggering, please be aware."

The book is written from the dual perspectives of Malik (or Adil) and Princess Karina. Both are on a risky, confusing, and mostly unknown path to save family and will do whatever it takes, or will they? After all they've been through, will they ultimately have what it takes? Their paths cross, unbeknownst to them, early on and their lives seem inextricably linked from that moment on.

The story is inspired by West and North African folktale. There are so many different layers to the fantasy elements and overall storytelling, all of which were brilliantly woven together by the author. Each time I thought I'd figured out what was coming, something new would be revealed confirming I still had no idea what was going to happen. I was captivated from start to finish and cannot wait to read the sequel, A Psalm of Storms and Silence.

If you read this book (and you absolutely should if you enjoy fantasy), let me know when you get to Chapter 33 because there's a particular scene that I loved that the author included, but I don't want to spoil anything in this post.

To close out:

Did you reread any passages? If so, which ones?

I reread the passage in Chapter 33 aloud to my husband, that's how much I loved it. I also reread this part and saved it in my notes for later: "You tear yourself down for things you could not have known or done," said Nyeni. "Why punish a seed for not yet being a tree."

Did you guess the ending? If so, at what point?

No. Literally at no point were my guesses accurate. Technically I kind of suspected one person might be a deceiver, but when you've filtered through nearly every character as a suspect at some point I don't think that counts as guessing correctly. One of them eventually was likely to be the traitor. 😂

Added to TBR: April 2021

Removed from TBR: February 2023