Of Darkness and Ruination

The Star Queen Chronicles, Book 1

De: Rachel Fallon

Narrado por: Alexa Borys, E.M. Wylde

Starlight in her veins, and a soul that calls for darkness.

On the magical continent of Celesterra, all humans are enslaved to the ruling fae...

Asteria Zagreus, a mortal young woman enslaved on Celesterra, must face Placement Day, the one day where all humans, at the age of Twenty-One, are placed in new kingdoms and given new masters to serve. Come Placement Day, Asteria is forced into the Dusk Kingdom and given to its Prince, Cyrus Tynan. When she refuses him and his desires, Asteria realizes she has only one option: escaping her enslavement and finding something thought impossible—freedom. Asteria must begin to play her own game within the court...and with the Prince of Dusk Kingdom himself.

Enemies come from all sides, however, and the merciless ruler of the Night Kingdom, King Calix Atarah Erebus, starts making his move against the Dusk Kingdom. Yet, darkness calls to Asteria in mysterious ways, and an equally mysterious soldier makes her question who the real monsters are—especially when it comes to a brutal king and a callous prince. With a bloody war brewing on the horizon, Asteria must decide who the true villain of her story is. Her choice, and the consequences of it, will ripple out across the continent.

Chaos rises, resistance gathers, and a soulmate bond is tested, while Asteria begins down a path that will change the course of history...

Of Darkness and Ruination is the first book in a compelling new adult romantic fantasy series featuring contrasting light and dark love interests and the delicate line of balance and chaos for a magical land. Plus fae shifters, court intrigue, resistance to slavery, a shadow daddy love interest who can shift into a dragon, and a heroine finding her own power and fighting for what she believes in. Perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas, Jennifer L Armentrout, Clare Sager, Nisha J Tuli, Carissa Broadbent, Chloe C. Peñaranda, and Raven Kennedy!

©2024 Rachel Fallon (P)2024 Rachel Fallon

Audio made this book wonderful!

4.75! Thee world building on this novel is WoW! It is wondrous, enchanting and very detailed. It is a lot, but not all at once which was nice. I'd say this is Dark Romantasy and check those trigger warnings because things get wild! Calix and Asteria gives me Witcher romance vibes
There were times Asteria's back and forth mind monologues got a bit redundant and self righteous.
She's a very black and white thinker most of the book.
And parts of the book were anticlimactic for me as l guessed a lot of the plot twist way before they happened lol. Love the emotional turmoil though and romance was well done.
I'd definitely recommend this story and excited for the series to continue! Amazing debut! So happy the audiobook came out so I could bump this baby up on the TBR! The audio book is amazing btw and definitely recommend as well. It's an awesome duet and I loved the accents and different voices.
Read from: Dec 14, 2024 - Dec 29, 2024

Great narration!

I really enjoyed the narrators, they did a great job performing the story! The story itself is good, but a little predictable. It’s the authors first book so definitely a good start and I look forward to book two!

Absolutely Amazing!!!

I rarely ever write a review. I loved everything about this story personally. Just remember before you start listening, it's only book 1.

breakthrough author!!

i’ve been following this story along since ad\/@nce c0pi£s were released!! as soon as it came out as an audiobook i bought it and man oh man did it exceed expectations. i know everyone is freaking out over rachel fallon’s cowboy type romance but in reality they should be obsessing over this book. Im so glad i have it in both audio and kindle copies. now i just need a special edition physical one. it’s pretty brilliant. i proudly guessed the twists at the end and it still was so satisfying. the main characters are just *chef’s kiss*. i’m excited for the next book even tho i know it’ll be a while. A MUST READ

Amazingly great story!

Wow, just finished and I’m blown away by this book. A top read of the year for sure. It’s got everything we know and love from romantasy, with dragon shifters, a shadow daddy, great friend and family dynamics, and an intriguing world and magic system. Please read this, you won’t regret it!

Amazing Romantasy Read!

This book left me craving for more! The story, plot, characters, and setting are beautifully crafted. The author's writing and the actors' performances in each scene made me feel like I was witnessing everything firsthand. The spice, romance, and chemistry between the protagonists were fantastic. Most importantly, the spice was perfectly timed and not forced in random scenes.

Had a lot of potential but author is new and needs to improve!

What I love the most about this book is the performance. The performance is in a new style where instead of just performanceing different POVs all the male voices are performed by the male narrator and female voices by females narrator. So a conversation will have the two narrators playering the opposite sexs voice. Both narrators are very talented and are good at making very distinct voices for different characters. The only way I was about to get through this long book was because I had the audio book, otherwise it would have been impossible. The sad thing is this book has a lot of good potential, all the right trope and feels but the execution of critical moments was slow and under Wellming. There was alot of talk in the FML in her head of doing grandiose things and then never doing them or needing the MML to help her. also this book was intirely too long like the worst over writing I have seen and repeating things so much. over 70% of the book could have been condensed down Condensed down. Also because it repeated so much it was really predictable what was going to happen in the story but even that was annoying because it took the author a really long time that it should not have to execute those dramatic changes which did not even end up being dramatic at all. Which is why I kept reading the book to only be disappointed when the plot twist finally came. I am also not personally a big fan of 2 chapters worth of a spice scene that too an 1 and a half to listen too. if that is your thing this book is very spicy in my opinion with lots of trigger warnings. And some of the spice I felt was wrong and disgusting involving in my opinion SA our dubious dubious consent. which dub con would have been in. The trigger warnings. Otherwise I would not have even bothered with this book. the spice is 🌶🌶🌶🌶 in my opinion. I really do however believe this is a new author who needs a good editor and if she can take the constructive criticism can write and amazing book so if she does come out with another book I will try to read it just because I really do believe she can write a good book. So I will give her a little slack.

ACOTAR .5 reboot?

Overall the book provided some good smutty scenes in the end as well as a decent story line and some decent world building. But, the voice acting for Austeria (MFC) makes her so hard to like. Upon the end you come to realize why she’s so annoying with an heir about her that makes you want to cringe. Took me forever to wrap myself into this story line thanks to that voice. I had to listen to other books to fill the space and come back to this one when I’d finish another book and didn’t have anything else to listen to. I think if I hadn’t had read the ACOTAR series 1st then the similarities wouldn’t have bothered me so much. I mean it’s basically the same over arching story with a changed up plot line. Granted, the 1st acotor book was also a slow burn into a wonderful story line but this one was a struggle bus for me personally. Someone mentioned this is the author’s 1st book so maybe the next one will be even better. Didn’t hate the book just think I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn’t so predictably similar to ACOTAR and the voice acting of the MFC wasn’t so obnoxious.

MFC tilts her head more than my golden retriever.

This mean, female character is insufferable. She is willfully, ignorant, and constantly gets in her own way. Audible will not let me return this title even though I used a credit so the most I can do is prevent anybody else from downloading this title. The narration is fine. The male main character never even got to him because the writing is bland, trite, and some of the story premises of the different courts is a rip off of ACOTAR.