Back at the palace, her mother brings her to a secret cavern under the palace and explains why she can never leave Ziran. Since no one believes magic really exists, Malik performs a story about Hyena, the popular mythical trickster, using his illusions as accents to his story.

I WAS PROMISED ENEMIES TO LOVERS BUT THEY DIDN'T EVEN MEET UNTIL 50% I GOT 25% OF ‘ENEMIES TO LOVERS AND THERE WAS HARDLY ANY TENSION I AM MADDDDDD. Her father and older sister Hanane were killed in a fire ten years before, and Karina has been grieving them ever since.By marrying the champion of the Solstasia competition, she’ll have the heart she needs to bring her mother back and free her from the responsibility of ruling Ziran. duh) I did find the fact that both Karina and Malik were planning on killing the other each for their own reasons to be a very nice touch.

Depicted in this necropolis are images of the Faceless King, who is shown here with a face and Malik recognizes him as Idir, though none of this is revealed to Karina at this time. When her mother, the Sultana is assassinated, Karina does not want to carry the burden of rulings and looks for a way to resurrect her mother for which will involve dark magic and a human sacrifice.The first in a gripping fantasy duology inspired by West African folklore in which a grieving crown princess and a desperate refugee find themselves on a collision course to murder each other despite their growing attraction—from debut author Roseanne A. Malik, thinking this may be his opportunity and realizing he can use his illusion powers to essentially make himself invisible, follows shortly after back to the palace. The sheer care and thought that went into constructing this vibrant world can be felt with every word - the history, the folklore, the mythology, the different cultures and their dynamics, the religion.

I didn't really mind that and I liked that this story was more about their individual journeys, but I'm really hoping to see a bit more romance in the sequel. Karina discovers that Malik (as Adil) is the Life Alignment champion and feels as though he deceived her by not saying anything once he knew who she was. They are not citizens, and are seen as a lower class of people who would not be let into the city without their forged papers.

Or at least I wished there was initially, as this book does not ease you gently into the beautiful but intense language of the story. She had really wanted Driss to win because she really didn’t like him, but he was already dead before marrying her. If you are looking for something new and different in the world building of YA fantasy, especially one that’s influenced by non-European cultures, check this book out! But even I was able to get a handle on it by the end, so I wouldn’t want anyone who struggles with books that have a lot of lingo to be frightened away by this. Karina knows now that she can’t kill Malik, not with the feelings that she has for him, so she declares Malik disqualified because of a technicality and declares Tunde the winner, even though she doesn’t want to kill him either.

A SONG OF WRAITHS AND RUIN is the first in a fantasy duology with Black characters, "in a world inspired by West African folklore. Karina believes the Kestrel to be cold and disappointed in her, but the Kestrel simply let her grief at the loss of her eldest daughter and husband turn her away from being close to her daughter. She feels she was inadequately prepared to be queen, and also struggles with lingering trauma over the deaths of her older sister and father to a palace fire years ago.Using magic that had long been dormant but was awakened by Idir, he creates an illusion of his patron deity naming him champion in front of everyone in the temple. It just has the same sort of bland, plodding story-telling that countless other young adult fantasy books of this type has, which is made evident by its BLANK OF BLANK AND BLANK formatted title.