Ruinbinding

The Blackwake Series, Book 1

By: Kay Jay

Narrated by: Aimée Adrienne

Blackwake was built on bones, salt, and secrets.

Sable never meant to become a problem.

She just wanted to survive long enough to escape the city that keeps trying to kill her. But when strange magic binds her to the sea itself, the Accord — Blackwake’s ruth-less governing force — marks her as a threat that needs to be erased.

Hunters start showing up.

Then monsters.

Then things that were never supposed to exist.

Her only ally?

Silas Crowe—sharp-tongued, knife-happy, and violently loyal. The kind of man who doesn’t ask questions. The kind who solves problems by breaking them.

Together, they don’t run.

They retaliate.

But the deeper they dig into Blackwake’s foundations, the more they realize the city isn’t just corrupt—it’s hiding something ancient beneath the tide.

Something chained.

Something waking up.

And when the ocean starts watching back…survival might not be enough.

Ruinbinding is a dark, addictive fantasy packed with sharp banter, morally gray he-roes, brutal action, and a touch-her-and-die romance. Perfect for listeners who love high stakes, found family chaos, and magic that bites back.

©2026 Kacie joiner (P)2026 Kacie joiner

Interesting ideas, lacking execution

I received this title for free for my honest review.

First off, I doubt I am the target audience for this book, so some of it just didn't quite land for me.

PROS:
-fascinating magic system in which using ruin comes with a cost
-intriguing concept of the ocean being its own identity
-competent main characters but not overpowered
-clear set of villains
-mystery left hanging for the next in the series
-lots of interesting history referenced
-use of prose to add to the tension and sense of tide (e.g., short phrases)
-narrator has range


CONS:
-inconsistent world building. There seems to be a cool history but not much was explored.
-- I wanted to know more about using ruin and why it costs and how those costs are determined. Also, later in the story, the cost of using ruin seemed to disappear.
--what is the technology level? It starts out as medieval but then there are guns, robots, and giant machines? That's fine, but I want more clear explanations as to why.
--what was driving the villian group? Why did they do what they did? It just seemed like vague "power"
--apparently Jesus is in this world; there's a throwaway line when a character curses with his name and the other quips "You don't believe in him"
-the quips in general rarely landed for me. Part of it was the use of current slang often. And just wasn't my kind of humor.
-some of the choices the narrator made for voices just wasn't for me (e.g., deep male voice, raspy voice). That might just be a me thing. Also, there were several instances in which narration was repeated that I have not noticed in other books (so probably not just my device).

So, all in all, I think it's worth a shot if you like YA and the description sounds interesting to you. At the end of the day, this was just not my cup of tea because it lacked depth and the humor didn't land.