[Review] A Song of Wrath and Ruins by Roseanne A. Brown

Cover image from the goodreads website.

Series or Stand Alone: A Song of Wrath and Ruins #1

Release Date: 2 June, 2020

Publisher: HarperAudio (an imprint of HarperCollins)

Genre: African Fantasy/Fantasy/Young Adult/Young Adult Romance

ASIN: B07XM8PJ9B

Edition: Audiobook (available in eBook, and hardback)

Rating: ★★★★☆

Review Written: 6 August, 2020
Warnings: Death, Violence, Sexual Exploits, Magic

Summary:  

For Malik, the Solstasia festival is a chance to escape his war-stricken home and start a new life with his sisters in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But when a vengeful spirit abducts his younger sister, Nadia, as payment to enter the city, Malik strikes a fatal deal - kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia’s freedom.

But Karina has deadly aspirations of her own. Her mother, the Sultana, has been assassinated; her court threatens mutiny; and Solstasia looms like a knife over her neck. Grief-stricken, Karina decides to resurrect her mother through ancient magic...requiring the beating heart of a king. And she knows just how to obtain one: by offering her hand in marriage to the victor of the Solstasia competition.

When Malik rigs his way into the contest, they are set on a heart-pounding course to destroy each other. But as attraction flares between them and ancient evils stir, will they be able to see their tasks to the death?

See more by Roseanne A Brown at her website.

[Review] Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Cover image from the goodreads website.

Series: Strange the Dreamer Duology (#1)

Release Date: 28 March, 2017

Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Epic Fantasy/Friendship/Romance/Mystery

ISBN: 9781478913054

Edition: Audiobook (also available in Kindle, Hardback, and Paperback)

Rating: ★★★★☆

Review Written: 18 March, 2019

Summary:The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever. What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving? The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

See more by Laini Taylor at her Website.