Early Review: Fall of Ruin and Wrath (Awakening #1)

Fall of Ruin and Wrath (Awakening #1)
By Jennifer L Armentrout

Published By: Tor Publishing / Bramble Romance
Publication Date: September 12, 2023
Date Read: August 7, 2023
Genre: Adult – Fantasy Romance
Source: ARC from JLAnders Reviewers
Format: Paperback
Pages: 432

From Goodreads:
SHE LIVES BY HER INTUITION. HE FEEDS ON HER PLEASURE.

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 follow her intuition to safety or follow her heart to her downfall.

Jennifer L Armentrout has been my all time favourite author for the last decade. Name a book by her, and I’ve probably read it around 20 times. I just adore her. As soon as I heard about Fall of Ruin and Wrath I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. I am so obsessed with fantasy books, and to have another high fantasy so soon after her From Blood and Ash series was very exciting for me. I was so excited to see what else she was going to do within this genre. This book is absolutely incredible. I absolutely devoured this book, it was absolutely incredible.

Fall of Ruin and Wrath follows Calista, a young woman who has a heightened intuition. Along with her ability to see glimpses into the future, she has this intuition that just tell her what to do in certain situations. I really enjoyed Calista as a character. She’s a total badass and will do everything she can to survive. After knowing what it’s like to be starving and not know where your next meal is coming from, she will do anything to make sure her and her best friend are okay. I found Calista so relatable because of this. I find sometimes in fantasy books the heroine can be so badass and trained that sometimes you find it hard to relate, but Calista’s backstory is so realistic to things that happen in the real world, I really associated with her and felt her pain and motivations. She’s an incredible character to follow through this story and I am already dying to see what she’s going to do in the second book of this series.

Enter Thorne… our love interest. Thorne is, in my opinion, one of the most morally grey main characters Jen has written since Seth in the Covenant and Titan series. He’s in no way a ‘good guy’ but his development throughout the book is insane. He is unapologetic of the bad shit he has done in the past, but you see him starting to warm to Calista… and honestly, I was halfway in love with him before we even knew his name. I don’t know what Jen puts in these books to make us all addicted but I was obsessed and addicted to this book and these characters right from the start. I absolutely adore Thorne and I just know everyone is gonna love him.

One of the things I adored about this book the most was the world. It was really exciting for me to come into a whole new JLA world. This is actually only the second or third time that we’ve seen Jen construct a new world, as the majority of her books are urban fantasy so they’re set in our world. I loved the world building. Right from the start I kind of got this dystopia feel to Fall of Ruin and Wrath. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a dystopia, it’s fantasy. But there’s all this talk within the world building about the ‘Great War’ that happened years ago and so it kind of felt like this was a post-apocalyptic vibe but within the fantasy world. It’s one of my favourite parts of the book, and for me, I feel like it gives this book a totally unique feel, seperate to any other Romantasy books that are currently on the market.

Fall of Ruin and Wrath is the perfect Romantasy book. It’s hot and spicy, and what I loved is that the spice really is intertwined with the world building so it feels completely natural. If you’ve followed my reviews for a while you’ll know I sometimes have issues with some spicy books. That is nothing to do with the fact that they’re spicy but that sometimes I feel like the spicy scenes are forced or in there for the sake of it, rather than them being needed. I did not feel like that with this book at all! It’s such a strongly plotted book and the spice is there to accompany that plot perfectly. Honestly, every spicy reader is going to be obsessed with this book.

If there is one Romantasy book that you pick up this year, make sure it is Fall of Ruin and Wrath. You will not be disappointed. It’s the perfect blend of fast paced action, heart melting romance and ‘fan yourself’ spice. I loved every single moment of this book and I cannot wait to get my hands on the second book. This has definitely gone straight in near the top of my all time favourite JLA series. I can’t wait to see what she does next! Make sure you don’t miss this absolute masterpiece, and preorder is right now.