Early ARC Review: Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Fall of Ruin and Wrath

Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publication Date: September 12, 2023

Hardcover, 432 pages, Bramble

Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance. LGBTQ+

Goodreads

 

Long ago, the world was destroyed by gods. Only nine cities were spared. Separated by vast wilderness teeming with monsters and unimaginable dangers, each city is now ruled by a guardian―royalty who feed on mortal pleasure.

 

Born with an intuition that never fails, Calista knows her talents are of great value to the power-hungry of the world, so she lives hidden as a courtesan of the Baron of Archwood. In exchange for his protection, she grants him information.

 

When her intuition leads her to save a traveling prince in dire trouble, the voice inside her blazes with warning―and promise. Today he’ll bring her joy. One day he'll be her doom.

 

When the Baron takes an interest in the traveling prince and the prince takes an interest in Calista, she becomes the prince’s temporary companion. But the city simmers with rebellion, and with knights and monsters at her city gates and a hungry prince in her bed, intuition may not be enough to keep her safe.

 

Calista must choose: follow her intuition to safety or follow her heart to her downfall.

My Review

Are you ready to dive into a new JLA adult romantasy series? Honestly, I don't think you're ready. I for sure wasn't. Fall of Ruin and Wrath has very steamy scenes, a powerful love interest, and a cast of characters who are all keeping a lot of secrets.

First off, I devoured this book in a single day, if that tells you anything. JLA's stories are like candy. You can just keep eating and eating until you realize the bag is empty and the overwhelming sadness hits when you realize you still want more. I'm super glad JLA is a writing fiend, because I couldn't wait 1.5-2 years for a sequel. Nope. Not after that crazy cliffhanger.

The main character of the story, Calista, a.k.a. Lis, is somewhat of a seer/mind reader, though she describes her powers as intuition. Lis used to be an orphan living on the street, but now she's the advisor to a local baron. Lis is also, seemingly, bi-sexual. There's no outright label put on sexuality in this book, but let's just say it's pretty obvious. Because boy oh boy, JLA! I did not think you'd go there. So much naughtiness all around. *Fans self.* The spice is real, y'all. Our other main character, and resident JLA sexy main squeeze, is Thorne. Lis meets Thorne in a situation that is the total opposite of meet cute. Let's call it a "meet ugly" for funsies. This meet ugly had me flipping pages so fast. It was a fantastic time. The meet ugly and the ending are the two sections I will definitely be rereading when it comes time for book two to release. I wholeheartedly give all the stars to those scenes!

 Now, the worldbuilding in this series is different from anything JLA has done before. It's not a straight-up fantasy or a modern-day Earth with secret paranormal beings lurking around. It almost seems like a historical fantasy at first, but nope. That's not what it is. I won't spoil anything, but it'll be interesting to see how all of the Hyhborn (angel/incubus beings) plays out for the setup of this world. There's definitely no predicting where JLA will take things. While the setting of Fall of Ruin and Wrath is unique writing-wise, it does have similarities to JLA's Dark Elements/Harbinger world in terms of the angel/demons story arc. Though, like I mentioned, it's more of an incubus/angel combo than a prince-of-hell and archangel Michael thing; however, Thorne is technically royalty, so he does have that in common with a couple of JLA's leading men. A big plus for any JLA fan and/or romantasy reader.

My only nitpick with this book is that it's a very slow build. Similar to the first Blood and Ash book, but slower. You can tell that some major craziness is going to go down in book two, but in Fall of Ruin and Wrath, not a lot happens outside of the beginning, when our two main characters first meet, and the ending, when all sh*t hits the fan—a signature JLA move. There's just a lot of politicking, court conversations, and, yes, spicy scenes, that slow down some of the buildup throughout the middle. But like I said, I read the whole book in basically a single sitting, which means that the slow build didn't really slow me down very much at all.

Overall, this book does have some major From Blood and Ash vibes based on that insane cliffhanger ending, but it stands on its own with a totally different, less stabby protagonist and a main squeeze with a more stoic personality, in contrast to Hawke's roguish charm. I think, if you enjoy series like Laura Thalassa's The Bargainer, Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter, or even Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City, you'll want to pick this one up. It's got the alphahole guy, the bada$$ female MC (though it's more of a mental bada$$ery than a physical one), the immortal beings plotline, and the hidden powers trope to keep romantasy readers thoroughly entertained, especially since Lis and Thorne's story seems like the beginning to what is going to be a wild and steamy ride.

*Note: I received a copy of this book to review from the publisher. This in no way affected my opinion/review.