Title: Ruinsong
Author: Julia Ember
Published: 24 Nov 2020
Pages: 368
Hello my fellow Bookworms and page turners,
Today we are looking at the dark fantasy, romance novel Ruinsong. This one is a little unusual for me as its a standalone story, and not part of an extended series. However, I hope Julia Ember does more work in future, and she is now on my radar.
The Story follows two young women. Cadence, who is the queen’s new Principal singer who uses her magical songs to torture whomever the queen demands, and Remi, the daughter of a Viscount, who wants nothing more than the queen’s torturous reign to finally be over. The Pair are childhood friends, that turn enemies, and then lovers.
However, this isnt your average tale of girl is friends with girl, girl hates girl, and then loves girl, there is quite alot gonig on behind the scenes as the two work together to reunite the nation. But, thats enough of that, if you want to know more you will have to pick up a copy of the book yourself!
I am absolutley in love with the magic system in this novel. The fact that it is all done through song is interesting, and to my knowledge, pretty unique. It made for a unusual contrast of song and pain especially in the early torture scenes which automatically got me hooked. It dispalyed a pure form of magic without any good or evil connotations, it was just magic utilized for the purpose needed by the weilder.
Embers, also remained transparent about her characters race when describing them, which alows the reader to come up with their own imaganings, which is a nice change of pace to the characters race being the first thing said about them before going into their general appearance. This transparancy along with the sexual orientation of the main characters have made this very popular among the LGBTQ+ community, and rightly so, as its an impressive story, which appeals to all, including those outside of this community, like myself.
Not to sound cliche, but the whole story often read more like a musical than that of a standard novel, though I am sure the magic system played a large part in creating this atmosphere, whilst reading I got distinct phantom of the opera vibes, which being a fan of musicals made me enjoy this story even more.
You can pick up a copy of the book here, if you do so please leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Until next time, read more books!
Between|the|Blurb 