Reign & Ruin

Mages of the Wheel, Book 1

By: J.D. Evans

Narrated by: Tim Campbell, Caren Naess

“All magic is beautiful...and terrible. Do you not see the beauty in yours, nor the terror in mine? You can stop a heart, and I can stop your breath.”

She is heir to a Sultanate that once ruled the world. He is an unwanted prince with the power to destroy. She is order and intellect, a woman fit to rule in a man's place. He is chaos and violence and will stop at nothing to protect his people.

His magic answers hers with shadow for light. They need each other, but the cost of balance may be too high a price. Magic is dying and the only way to save it is to enlist mages who wield the forbidden power of death, mages cast out centuries ago in a brutal and bloody war.

Now, a new war is coming. Science and machines to replace magic and old religion.

They must find a way to save their people from annihilation and balance the sacred Wheel—but first, they will have to balance their own forbidden passion. His peace for her tempest, his restlessness for her calm.

Night and day, dusk and dawn, the end, and the beginning.

©2022 J.D. Evans (P)2022 Podium Audio

Wow! A 6-star romantasy!

All I knew going into this book was that I loved the cover, and that it was a romantasy. What I ended up with was my latest obsession. I am completely blown away!

“All magic is beautiful,” she said, “and terrible. Do you not see the beauty in yours, or the terror in mine?” Her fingers brushed his cheek. “You can stop a heart, and I can stop your breath.”

What did I love about this? Simply everything: the eloquent, third-person writing, the intelligent, calculated heroine, the teasing, formidable hero, the politics, the setting, the world-building, the side characters, the tension, the slow-burn…you name it. This is a 6 star read for me, and I just ordered the entire series in paperback. If you love romantasy, this is a must-read!

Incredibly worth the listen/read

I’m shocked this book/series doesn’t have more fanfare. It’s beautifully written, and does a great job of balancing fantasy, politics, and romance. The leads are engaging, believable characters and the romance rings true. If you’re a fan of the TOG or ACOTAR series, do yourself a favor and read this.

Best of Audible

My favorite I’ve listened to so far! Just so thoughtful wonderful smart dialogue and world building.

Beautiful

This is easily one of my top 5 fantasy romance books ever. Would recommend to anyone interested in fantasy.

So good and different

What a well written and captivating book. The setting is beautifully stablished, the characters feel well developed and compelling, the political intrigue plot keeps you hooked, the magic system is so intriguing and mysterious (I guess it’ll be further developed in the next books) and the romance is so well done too. Looking forward to next books in the series.