Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Fall of Ruin and Wrath

I couldn’t put this story down, but I also couldn’t quite give it 4 stars. I wish the plot had fleshed itself out a little more, and I also wish our FMC had more insight and wasn’t so oblivious. Felt like the ending was rushed, and though I appreciate a good cliffhanger, our questions were left with only half answers. I do love the way JLA writes romance and spice! It was *hot* and I appreciated the dynamic between the FMC and the side characters.

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3bobbielee's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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dalek_caan's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. My biggest complaint is that when I picked it up I didn't know it was a series and one I have to wait for at that! I'm so excited for whenever the next book comes out because I really want to know what happens next. I love the writing style of this author I was captivated the entire book through, and I found the world and characters to be well thought out and interesting. I will definitely be reading more books by this author!

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boyname's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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jordy_g's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

It's essentially smut with a sprinkling of plot. A not very compelling plot at that.

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nerdy_berdie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.25

Whew okay what to say. I love Jennifer L Armont so the fact I didn't like this book was disap ointing. If you've read any of her recent adult fantasy books then the writing in this story may seem incredibly familiar. No I mean it. Like the same. The way the characters are described is almost identical to some of her other series. It almost read as a weird mash up fanfic of the blood and ash series and harbinger.

Speaking of unclear if she meant to do this but there's hints of the omega verse being incorporated in and I'm.....ya.... Soooo. If your a smut girly thought this book is for you. Almost every chapter talked about or had sex in it. That was also it's downfall though because nothing happened until 90% through the story. That's not an exaggeration I was noting it on my kindle. I was screaming at the main girl almost the entire time to use her powers instead of just passively accepting everything. It drove me bonkers.

Will I read the second? Yes, because Im a gluten for punishment and there's nothing more I hate them and uncompleted cliff hanger. (God dammit Jennifer).

Positive thoughts its incredibly queer which I appreciated.

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purplepenning's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.25

I haven't read any other books by Armentrout but picked this one up because it's the first in Tor's new romance imprint, Bramble. I read pretty widely, including fantasy and romance, and I can see why readers are drawn to "romantasy" in general and to Armentrout and this book in particular. I can also see why reviews here vary so much — amusingly, with the same things being both *loved* by some and *hated* by others (the writing style, the dialogue, the main characters, the chemistry, the side characters, the steamy/spicy content, the world building, the ending). Readers bring a lot of previous experiences and expectation with them to their reading, but perhaps trope-heavy fantasy and romance taps into that most of all. A key phrase ("who hurt you?") or characteristic can tap right into an established set of feelings and expectations and can do a lot of heavy lifting as far as characterization goes. But that's a ramble for another time...

"Good and evil are real. They always have been. Yet the weight of the realm has always fallen on those in-between. Ones neither good nor bad."

My experience with A Fall of Ruin and Wrath is that it's like the beginning of a Sarah J Maas story written by Katee Roberts. It leans into the theme of "morally gray" like it was the assignment and plays with the push-pull of "fated mates" and "star-crossed lovers" in a way that could get interesting if a lazy "chosen one" trope doesn't get in the way.

Parts of it were kind of a mess for me — sometimes in ways I didn't mind and sometimes in ways that I did. The world seems like standard high fantasy at first but then it's also sort of post-apocalyptic and maybe less fae and more seraphs and demons? I don't need the world building to be completely nailed down in the first book in a series so I wasn't too fussed about this. If anything makes me pick up book two it'll be wanting to figure out this fantasy world and system. I mean I did not have

moral rot, climate disaster, and divine intervention

on my bingo card for what created this world, but I'm kind of here for it. I also didn't expect our vaguely angel-y immortal prince to come from

some Uruk Hai-style underground creation process

and I might be less here for that. Our female main character is gifted with insight, foresight, and intuition but hasn't learned to control her mouth or expressions and doesn't use her gifts for much of anything, including advancing the plot. There does seem to be some self-awareness about that eventually, but there's also a realization that she has some

intuitive, unearned ability to fight, which... sigh

. The story is drenched in public, partner-sharing sex and the premise of a powerful species of overlords and personal partner who "feeds on pleasure" but much of it feels like set dressing and lacks connection. And for all the sex positivity, casual queerness, and bisexuality rep, it still seems to be mostly / entirely women who are draped on laps, played with in public, sent to service visiting nobility, etc. in a system of class and power differential that makes it all pretty sexist and sketch.

I mean how is a baron expected to have a diplomatic meeting with a powerful visiting prince WITHOUT feeling up and fingering his trusted spy/companion/rescued orphan in front of said prince and then sending her over to him to finish so the diplomacy can be punctuated with her orgasm? It's okay — she has a *choice.*

Our male main character is entirely logical, taciturn, always gets what he wants, and is never wrong but finds himself

staked down and tortured in a barn

and wants the FMC with no logical reason for it and blabs a whole lot of seemingly sensitive and personal information to her almost immediately.

(Information about what can be done with all of his parts, yes, all of them — and his fluids — if they are harvested from him. I know there's been a lot of blood loss at this point and you're busy regrowing eyes and such, but, sir — kept your secret semen info to yourself!)

Anyway... a lot of the character building felt muddled and a lot of the "steamy scenes" felt disconnected and kind of cringe — like they were included because auction winners won the right to have their personal fantasies written into the book.

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gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Thank you to Black Crow PR for sending a copy my way and including me in the Book Tour. All opinions remain my own.

This was my first Jennifer L. Armentrout novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I found the pacing to be great, with a focus on drawing our anticipation and action, never verging on being boring, whilst simultaneously not being overwhelming in content.

To accompany and complement the pacing, I appreciated the chapters being concise and manageable. It added to the desire of the every famous reader phrase of 'just one more chapter'.

I found the characters to be intriguing (especially our MFC) & I quickly grew ever more curious about these highborn lords particularly wanting to know what kind of immortal being they were. Would they fall more under the fae type being or a sort of energy vampire? I feel like this could have been called My Hyhborn lord, but not sure that would have been as catching a title for me.
I thought the lure of the deminyens was pretty cool with the idea of them radiating desire and their origin story was interesting too.

I would have loved to explore deeper the relationship between Lis and Grady. I was shown how their bond was so tight in the childhood but I don't think it was carried as strongly into adulthood enough in example. I would have also have loved to see more expansion between Lis and Naomi.

The romance was super spicy and I was blushing, let me tell you. I think that was one of my favourite parts about the book. It was definitely more romance than fantasy, but there was definitely more than enough magic and fantasy themed political intrigue to not fall too far behind the steamy scenes.

I cannot wait to see where book 2 takes Lis.

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