A Song of Wraiths and Ruin

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stars based on my personal level of enjoyment, which stems from not really getting attached to the characters or believing in the romance. Instead, they’re tales of trickery, clever riddles, and moral lessons, and feature more animal characters than human. I feel like the world and magic system were interesting (I actually have more thoughts on this to come later in the review). Globe, The Boston; Sancken, Joshunda Sanders, Kate Tuttle, Jason Myers, Hannah VanderHart, Laura Koenig, Renata.

They also find and have to fight a giant serpant-like creature that was thought to be only myth but has been residing under the city all this time.Both main characters are quite annoying and boring honestly, and because of that, I couldn't really relate to them, get invested in their romance or in their adventure in general. Some of the information is a little bit confusing at first (regarding the history of the land) and there is also some info-dumping in the first part of the book. Back at the palace, her mother brings her to a secret cavern under the palace and explains why she can never leave Ziran. I'm the type of fantasy reader that likes to have a solid understanding of the magic system and world before fully diving into a book. Malik is able to trap Idir within Malik’s mind where he resides at the end of the story, and his background is more complicated.

Her character frequently bangs out fun and witty dialogue and the way the other characters interact with her can be interesting, as she often defies their expectations of her as a spoiled, screw up princess. Although we only got glimpses for most of them, they completely intrigued me and I can't wait to see more of them in the future. They enter the maze, and Tunde is suspicious of Malik because he knows that it was he who killed Driss.

She happens upon Malik, who fled from the pub where he was having drinks and discussing an alliance with two of the other champions, Tunde and Driss.

Each alignment temple chooses a champion to compete in Solstasia, with the winner gaining ultimate glory and a position in court, and their alignment will be the alignment that defines the next era until the next comet cycle.To escape the cavern, they have to throw themselves at the mercy of the river and hope it brings them outside.

Hyena, the trickster figure of Sonande’s culture, reminded me in many ways of Anansi, and the story that Malik tells of one of Hyena’s adventures is largely reminiscent of the humorous tales that often go along with Anansi stories. This is the second fantasy book that I’ve read in the past few years that is based in African cultures, and world-building is stunning. In the interim, Malik has an encounter with Idir, and Malik attempts to gain the upper hand with his illusions, but Idir is too powerful. Since no one believes magic really exists, Malik performs a story about Hyena, the popular mythical trickster, using his illusions as accents to his story. Depicted in this necropolis are images of the Faceless King, who is shown here with a face and Malik recognizes him as Idir, though none of this is revealed to Karina at this time.Meanwhile, Malik has come to the conclusion that the only way for him to get close to the princess is for him to be the champion of his alignment for Solstasia. They have such a believable and painfully real sibling dynamic; one thing that stood out to me was when Malik wondered whether he and Leila would have ever been friends if they weren't siblings.