A Song of Wraiths and Ruin

Genre

Young adult fantasy

Content Warnings

Thoughs of self-harm, violence, emotional and physical abuse, anxiety and panic attacks, parent death, animal death

Plot summary: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin

Malik, the dreamer, the storyteller, the refugee, is travelling with his two sisters, the three of them hoping to lie their way into Ziran. Karina, the rebel, the musician, the princess, is trying to balance her sense of duty with her desire for freedom. The two don’t know it yet, but the glittering festival of Solstasia is about to set them on a deadly collision course, with stakes higher than even they fully understand.

My Thoughts

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin has a pretty conventional set-up if you’re familiar with YA fantasy stories. Despite that, the book feels like it has a fresh take on things, and the sense of atmosphere is pretty exciting from the first few pages. Malik is travelling with his younger sister Nadia and older sister Leila, they’re hoping to sneak into the prosperous city of Ziran. On the other side of the wall, the princess Karina is trying to find little ways to rebel against her position as next in line to the throne.

The characters in A Song of Wraiths and Ruin

I loved both of the story’s protagonists. Malik is a sweetheart, and I felt for him as he struggled with anxiety and the overwhelming situations that he found himself in. Karina is sharp-tongued and impulsive, and making most of her decisions from a place of mingled grief and guilt, whether she’s aware of it or not. I thought they were both flawed in interesting and compelling ways, and I enjoyed the chapters from both points of view.

The relationships that they had with other characters were fun too. I liked Malik’s relationship with his sisters a lot, he’s protective of younger sister Nadia and slightly intimidated by older sister Leila, and the way those dynamics played out across the story were really interesting to me. Karina is in a situation where she’s the social ‘superior’ of basically everyone around her, and although she doesn’t seem to let that affect the way she sees other people, it can’t help but impact their interactions.

Some of the supporting characters were beautifully fleshed out, honourable mention here to one of the Solstasia champions, Tunde, who I wish I could be friends with in real life. Others felt less three-dimensional, and in some cases we got little hints of character that weren’t completely followed through on. But the world felt well-populated, and I think most of the people involved in the story, even many of the antagonistic characters, were given layers and treated with some amount of nuance.

There were a few things I wished we could have seen more of

The alignment system was cool, the idea that you’re aligned with a specific element and deity based on the day of the week you were born. I would have liked it to play into things more, and to have got a better sense of how this affects the world the characters live in.

I also would have liked to see more of the magic system. I think it made sense, within the context of the story, that we didn’t get more information about how magic works. So, this isn’t a complaint. I’m just hungry for more information about the magic in this world! But that’s all the more reason to look forward to book 2, I guess!

In summary

I loved this book, I think it has an intriguing world full of complex and interesting characters, and something about it just really grabbed me. It doesn’t feel like it’s doing anything radically different to YA fantasy from a plot point of view, but it’s skilfully and intelligently written. It was great to see a main character in a fantasy story who was dealing with anxiety, and I think the world has potential to develop in some really interesting ways.