A Song of Wraiths and Ruin follows two perspectives Malik and Karina. Karina is hell bent on bringing her mother back from the death after she was assassinated and Malik is trying to kill Karina in order to save his younger sister from an evil spirit who has kidnapped her.
I was really invested in Malik’s storyline right from the start; from his backstory with his sisters and how they came to be in Ziran, to his magical abilities and his journey over the course of the storyline. I loved seeing how he has had to overcome his insecurities and anxiety and step up and do the right thing in order to save Nadia.
Karina was a little unlikeable at the start to be honest. I can understand the situation she is in and the pressure that has been placed on her since the death of her sister, but she came across as whiny and selfish to me. She does evolve and see the error of her ways and kind of comes to terms with the fact that her family are never going to come back but still she just wasn’t a favourite character of mine. It didn’t impede my enjoyment of the story at all, just something I wanted to note.
The world building was great even though we are only in this one city for the majority of the book I can see the potential for growth in the rest of the series. The history of the royal family and the kingdom was very interesting and I definitely want to learn more about Karina’s family and faceless king in the coming books as well. The magic system we didn’t really learn that much about. I am looking forward to Karina and Malik figuring out how to control their powers and trace back to their origins.
I liked the concept of the book I think it is highly original and engaging. The use of the competition kept me highly invested in the plot and eager to find out what was going to happen next.
⭐️3/5 stars Great introduction to the series, I’m looking forward to continuing!!
amyleighreads.com 