Reviews with content warning for Classism - Fall of Ruin and Wrath

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

12 reviews

kay_chan's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Rounded up to 3.75
Spicy rate 🌶🌶🌶 🥵

Okay - first of all, I didn't get the memo that I needed to read this before BOBAA. Even despite that, I felt like this wasn't really tied in so strongly into either the FBAA or the FAF world that you couldn't have swapped the reading order.

That being said I also have to put a disclaimer that FAF will forever be my favorite series ever. Nyktos and Sera are endgame, so nothing will ever add up to them and that story is the epitome and high I am coming off of and expecting in this new spin-off series.

With that in mind... *spoilers*

I'm very happy and excited to have another spin-off series from my two favorite JLA reads. This has a much different vibe than both fbaa and FAF, which I am thrilled about because if you're not die hard about both of those series, the intricacies and plot points are very convoluted. I'm glad that this seems to be an addition to the worlds, but has not yet been added and integrated into them so my brain isn't mentally challenged with keeping everything correct.

Lis and Thorne definitely give off the dark romance vibe. But it was also kind of giving me trauma hints back to Kolis and Sotoria 😬 especially when it came to the "fate"dness and obsession. It had me a little bit uneasy at first.

The caste system that this book has also feels very different compared to the other two worlds. It seems that everything exists literally and metaphysically segregated by this caste system, even though it's not fully fleshed out or understood by the audience or the FMC. So with how strong everything is governed by it, it really doesn't make sense at this point in this series.

I also have to make a disclaimer that my first 100 pages of reading this book I was very frustrated and very disappointed by the quality of writing. I absolutely adore JLA and her editing team, but I definitely feel like they dropped the ball hugely on this one and either it was rushed through production or something. I am not used to jla's writing coming across like this, so it was a huge shock especially coming off of BOBAA. The first hundred pages we're so blatantly repetitive and I nearly hated the FMC from the start just from her Vibes and characterization. Lis' inner monologuing was painful. I believe it was chapter one or two where in a 5-page span, the word Hyhborn was used over 30 times. I literally wanted to throw the book across the room, because the meaning of it hadn't even been explained in the plot lines yet 🤦‍♀️ Thankfully as the storyline began to progress, I could let go of my frustrations to push through. But this book also feels like 50% character monologues, 40% worldbuilding by just throwing hundreds of new words at you with zero context or explanation, and 10% storyline. Of all the JLA series I've read, this is by far my least favorite. Praying that once pobab and the fbaa/faf world are concluded, this new spin-off will have the team's full concentration.

I have so many notes to go over to make sure that I don't have to do a reread once the sequel comes out. I have mixed feelings about where the end of this book left us off; Lis' "identity" unveiled, her powers expanding, the new vision, and being reunited so immediately with Thorne. I definitely feel like they could have been apart a little bit longer, given Lis a chance to flesh out and understand her own character on her own rather than now in the context of Thorne and her new reality as a divine mortal/star born caelestia.

I'm excited to see where this series is going, and can't wait to see the bigger picture and it's connection to the fbaa and faf world.

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theanxietyfaerie's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Really enjoyed it. Pacing was good but it ended right when all the action was starting. Not too wordy like other JLA books can be. I feel like it's going to be a series where the 1st book really sets everything up and the 2nd book is where the plot really picks up.

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katharina90's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Complicated

3.0

Like Blood and Ash, I found this entertaining enough to keep reading but it's nothing to write home about.

The worldbuilding is meh and the plot drags for most of the book.

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carsons1996's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was yet another great launching point for a wonderful new Jennifer Armentrout series. Great suspense and tension and just an overall good style of writing. It follows a similar blueprint to her other series, but I literally do not care because it's just such a unique and interesting take on all the typical fantasy tropes.

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tguccione's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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nerdy_berdie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.25

Whew okay what to say. I love Jennifer L Armont so the fact I didn't like this book was disap ointing. If you've read any of her recent adult fantasy books then the writing in this story may seem incredibly familiar. No I mean it. Like the same. The way the characters are described is almost identical to some of her other series. It almost read as a weird mash up fanfic of the blood and ash series and harbinger.

Speaking of unclear if she meant to do this but there's hints of the omega verse being incorporated in and I'm.....ya.... Soooo. If your a smut girly thought this book is for you. Almost every chapter talked about or had sex in it. That was also it's downfall though because nothing happened until 90% through the story. That's not an exaggeration I was noting it on my kindle. I was screaming at the main girl almost the entire time to use her powers instead of just passively accepting everything. It drove me bonkers.

Will I read the second? Yes, because Im a gluten for punishment and there's nothing more I hate them and uncompleted cliff hanger. (God dammit Jennifer).

Positive thoughts its incredibly queer which I appreciated.

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raelam's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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chelbawamba's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.75

This was fine. Much less involved than From Blood and Ash, but there were plot similarities between the two. Writing was slightly better than JLA’s recent additions to her other series, but still suffered greatly from repetitive phrasing.

Also an interesting choice by the author to borrow terms and characteristics from another, much more popular series.

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purplepenning's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Complicated

2.25

I haven't read any other books by Armentrout but picked this one up because it's the first in Tor's new romance imprint, Bramble. I read pretty widely, including fantasy and romance, and I can see why readers are drawn to "romantasy" in general and to Armentrout and this book in particular. I can also see why reviews here vary so much — amusingly, with the same things being both *loved* by some and *hated* by others (the writing style, the dialogue, the main characters, the chemistry, the side characters, the steamy/spicy content, the world building, the ending). Readers bring a lot of previous experiences and expectation with them to their reading, but perhaps trope-heavy fantasy and romance taps into that most of all. A key phrase ("who hurt you?") or characteristic can tap right into an established set of feelings and expectations and can do a lot of heavy lifting as far as characterization goes. But that's a ramble for another time...

"Good and evil are real. They always have been. Yet the weight of the realm has always fallen on those in-between. Ones neither good nor bad."

My experience with A Fall of Ruin and Wrath is that it's like the beginning of a Sarah J Maas story written by Katee Roberts. It leans into the theme of "morally gray" like it was the assignment and plays with the push-pull of "fated mates" and "star-crossed lovers" in a way that could get interesting if a lazy "chosen one" trope doesn't get in the way.

Parts of it were kind of a mess for me — sometimes in ways I didn't mind and sometimes in ways that I did. The world seems like standard high fantasy at first but then it's also sort of post-apocalyptic and maybe less fae and more seraphs and demons? I don't need the world building to be completely nailed down in the first book in a series so I wasn't too fussed about this. If anything makes me pick up book two it'll be wanting to figure out this fantasy world and system. I mean I did not have

moral rot, climate disaster, and divine intervention

on my bingo card for what created this world, but I'm kind of here for it. I also didn't expect our vaguely angel-y immortal prince to come from

some Uruk Hai-style underground creation process

and I might be less here for that. Our female main character is gifted with insight, foresight, and intuition but hasn't learned to control her mouth or expressions and doesn't use her gifts for much of anything, including advancing the plot. There does seem to be some self-awareness about that eventually, but there's also a realization that she has some

intuitive, unearned ability to fight, which... sigh

. The story is drenched in public, partner-sharing sex and the premise of a powerful species of overlords and personal partner who "feeds on pleasure" but much of it feels like set dressing and lacks connection. And for all the sex positivity, casual queerness, and bisexuality rep, it still seems to be mostly / entirely women who are draped on laps, played with in public, sent to service visiting nobility, etc. in a system of class and power differential that makes it all pretty sexist and sketch.

I mean how is a baron expected to have a diplomatic meeting with a powerful visiting prince WITHOUT feeling up and fingering his trusted spy/companion/rescued orphan in front of said prince and then sending her over to him to finish so the diplomacy can be punctuated with her orgasm? It's okay — she has a *choice.*

Our male main character is entirely logical, taciturn, always gets what he wants, and is never wrong but finds himself

staked down and tortured in a barn

and wants the FMC with no logical reason for it and blabs a whole lot of seemingly sensitive and personal information to her almost immediately.

(Information about what can be done with all of his parts, yes, all of them — and his fluids — if they are harvested from him. I know there's been a lot of blood loss at this point and you're busy regrowing eyes and such, but, sir — kept your secret semen info to yourself!)

Anyway... a lot of the character building felt muddled and a lot of the "steamy scenes" felt disconnected and kind of cringe — like they were included because auction winners won the right to have their personal fantasies written into the book.

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anoelle896's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Complicated

5.0

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