Ruinsong

My biggest problem with Ruinsong is that I do not like Remi. Not even a little bit. I think it would have benefited from being just from Cadence's perspective, with more fleshed out scenes. Remi is naïve and annoying; she knows nothing about how magic works but somehow points out that “Cadence, of course, there are spells to protect yourself. Why don't you learn some? It can't be that hard.” For someone who has also done nothing to stand up to the queen and has been in relative safety, she's swift to judge Cadence and expect the worst.

The magic was cool, but I think it would have been even better with more development. I love more exploration of the other types of song magic. Why is the magic sung? What happens if you sing a song differently?

The whole world should be more developed. More explanation of the belief system. Why is such a big deal the Elene worships a different goddess? How big is this country? There was too much time angsting over what Remi thinks of Cadence and not enough time spent making their world make sense.

It seemed like the book was very rushed in regards to the time frame. It's been, what, a month from the beginning to end, and they're going to try to start a revolution, but Remi and Cadence can't talk to each other and work out some issues?

Ruinsong sounded very promising but fell short for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.