A Song of Wraiths and Ruin

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I also love that it’s stated very clearly that she’s experienced with boys and is not a virgin in the slightest, while Malik is yet to have his first kiss. Her mother’s counsel want to bury the Kestrel at once and cancel Solstasia, but Karina won’t have it, insisting news of her mother’s death should be kept secret and Solstasia should continue as planned. A powerful sorcerer, one of the few left, he betrays Karina and blames her for the death of Hanane and the king.

Once they get out of the river, they find themselves in a necropolis built for the last pharaoh of the empire that ruled Sonande before Ziran. Leila and Malik are left to figure out how they are going to get close enough to the princess to kill her and save Nadia. Lost her older sister Hanane and her father to a terrible fire when she was a young child, and grew up not really knowing her mother, both of them dealing with their grief in flawed ways. 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. The maze challenges them with their greatest fears, and Malik has to deal with his childhood trauma and anxieties head on, but he comes out stronger.

Malik and his 2 sisters are fleeing their dangerous homeland and are hoping to find a job in the capital city, but when Malik's younger sister is captured by a magical being, their plan changes. He’s the “man” of the family, but he suffers from panic attacks and cries at multiple times throughout the story. Still grieving the deaths of her father and older sister years ago, she feels stifled within the palace walls and increasingly dreads her eventual succession to the throne.

Every minute was riddled with stories and folklore and it was all just so magnificent that I couldn’t really put the book down (had to force myself to most of the time). After the raid when they’re heading back, they overhear some merchants talking badly about the Kestrel and Karina herself, and Karina tries to break up the fight by revealing her identity, but just when Malik is trying to get himself to strike her from behind with this opportunity, someone else throws a rock at her, and she is hurried away by guards before she is further hurt. There were people I thought I would actively dislike, but once more of their struggles were revealed I couldn't help but have a little more compassion.But as part of his deal to Idir, Farid has to kill Karina on his behalf, which he doesn’t seem to have any remorse for because he blames the death of Hanane and the king on Karina. Ebooks fulfilled through Glose cannot be printed, downloaded as PDF, or read in other digital readers (like Kindle or Nook). Most of the secondary characters are used as plot devices to move Malik and Karina into place as the story progresses and lack much genuine depth or growth that makes them worth mentioning. It comes to light that though Karina has repressed both the memories and her magic (causing her migraines), she has powerful storm magic and summoned the bolt of lightening that caused the fire that killed her father and sister. There was no tension and they hated each other and then they slowly realised that each other is not that bad.

Malik is trying to justify his response, and Karina is about to jump in when Afua arrives out of nowhere, attacking Karina and crying that her family has been taken prisoner because of the raids by the Sentinels. I feel like mental illness gets neglected in fantasy, despite the fact that fantasy characters face so many horrors and deaths in their lives. Idir can’t resist this offer, but once Malik has Idir inside his mind, he is able to trap Idir there and take back over. Despite their intentions with each other they work very well together, their scenes were full of 🔥🥵🔥🥵 and they most definitely care about each other dispite what they'll tell you. 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.Idir – found later in the story to also be the Faceless King who is the villain of the founding legend of Ziran, Idir is a powerful spirit who was trapped in another realm by Bahia Alahari, his wife and the first sultana of Ziran.