Of Darkness and Ruination by Rachel Fallon
18+ Contains Adult Content
Of Darkness and Ruination is book one in Rachel Fallon’s The Star Queen Chronicles, set in the magical world of Celesterra, a world run by fae and where all humans are slaves. At the age of 21, each human is to leave their families and face Placement Day, which is where they are placed in a different kingdom within Celesterra. Asteria is sent to the Dusk Kingdom and is to be the personal slave for Crown Prince Cyrus, who wants Asteria to give in to his lust and desire for her. She refuses and knows it is a matter of time before he takes it by force, and the only option is to escape. She will be killed if she is caught, and what’s worse, the ruthless King Calix of the Night Kingdom keeps attacking the Dusk Kingdom. There is a war brewing in Celesterra, and Asteria seems to be in the middle of it.
Today was placement day, what I oh-so-affectionately called Imprisonment Day.
⚫️Fated Mates ⚫️Light vs Dark ⚫️Touch her and die ⚫️Enemies to lovers ⚫️Courtly intrigue ⚫️Fae Shifters ⚫️Shadow Daddy Dragon Shifter
I was recommended Of Darkness and Ruination by my friend for my 12 months, 12 Friends, 12 Books challenge. I had picked this up once before but had put it down after a couple of chapters. I guess I wasn’t in the mood for it at that time, as I am very much a mood reader. I picked it up again to try and found myself enjoying it. I enjoyed the different Kingdoms, there is Night, Day, Dusk, Dawn, Sunrise and Sunset. I did enjoy the magic, I wish there had been a little more magic shown, but I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the plot line, however it was predictable.
Don’t ever apologise for feeling what you need to.
If you have read the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas, then you already have a pretty good idea of the plot of this book. I enjoyed the world-building, but again…ACOTAR. It was a similar concept, except ACOTAR has seasons, but again, it was Night Kingdom that was the “bad guys”, even down to the King of Night Kingdom having the power of shadows and being the most powerful fae. Even still, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed ACOTAR when I read that.
Life is all about living despite the unknown. Facing down the knowledge that anything could come next and moving forward despite it.
The pace of the book felt rather slow to me personally, and I do think it could have been condensed a little, as I said, some bits seemed a little repetitive. I wish this book had ended at the end of part one, as I found it starting to drag in part two. There were many times that I thought, yes, Asteria, we get it, as the same point seemed to be being made constantly about Asteria not wanting to open herself up and have friends or fall in love.
I comforted you because you needed it, Asteria. Because everyone deserves, and needs comfort now and again
I would say that this book is mainly character-driven. Speaking of characters, I enjoyed Asteria’s character, though she was cunning and wasn’t going to settle for being a slave like others had. Prince Cyrus was a douche, with a big anger problem and an overinflated ego. He annoyed me, which was the point, so good job Rachel Fallon lol. I liked Calix, but I couldn’t stop comparing the book in my mind to ACOTAR, and so he fell a little short for me, because Rhys is just better in my opinion.
The rage it’s beautiful, Asteria. It tells me you’re going to fight, and fight fiercely. You are…devastation, and you’re going to bring that fire down on our enemies.
The book has some dark topics, slavery, SA, attempted rape, war and many more. There is spice in this book, not too much to be fair, although there is a huge orgy scene, but you only really see it from the two main characters’ POV, so not too bad and fairly enjoyable.
Are you trying to torture me, my réalta?
Not any more than you’re torturing me, my dorchadas
All in all, I enjoyed reading the book even if it was predictable and very, very similar to ACOTAR. I liked most of the characters and the world it was set. Would I read it again? No. Would I recommend you read it? Yeah, if you like romantasy and don’t mind that it is ACOTAR 2.0. If you have never read ACOTAR and don’t want to read Sarah J Maas but you love romantasy, then you should read this book. I’ve heard that the audiobook really brings it to life. This review seems very critical, I know, but I did give this book 4 stars, though, because I did enjoy reading it and I felt connected to the characters and the world they were in. I just wish it had been a bit more original, and then maybe it would have gotten 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶️🌶️/5
