Name: City of Ruin
Series: The Witch Walker #2
Author: Charissa Weaks
Publisher: City Owl Press
Format: Kindle
Genres: New Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Noted Tropes: Lovers to Enemies, Enemies to Reluctant Alies
Steam or Spice: Spice
Rating:
Synopsis: Goodreads
The night the Prince of the East razed her village, Raina Bloodgood’s life changed forever. Forced into someone else’s war—and into the arms of the Witch Collector, Alexus Thibault—Raina discovered that everything she believed was wrong, and that she was capable of far more than anyone imagined.
Now, the Prince of the East has taken the Frost King as a pawn in his war against the Summerlands, causing Alexus’s life to hang in the balance. To thwart the prince’s endgame and prevent the Tiressian empire from returning to an age of gods, Raina, Alexus, and a band of Northlanders race against the sands of time to reach a mystical desert land where merciless assassins lurk around every corner.
In the midst of tragedy, Raina and Alexus fight to stay together and alive, all while a nefarious presence follows them straight to the jeweled gates of the Summerland queen’s citadel—the City of Ruin. With much to fear, it’s the terror of a past she shouldn’t remember that Raina cannot cast from her dreams.
A past that’s determined to find her. One way or another.
Review:
City of Ruin is book 2 in The Witch Walker trilogy, and so there are likely spoilers for book 1 below.
I am having a hard time with this trilogy. Book 1, The Witch Collector, I struggled for a good portion of the book because it was kind of slow? But the ending was so good, that cliffhanger was brilliant and I knew therefore I had to read book 2, regardless! Add to that a few reviews I’d seen popping up for City of Ruin had people declaring it a 6 star read! I however, am not one of those people, and that is so sad!
City of Ruin, for about 55% is our characters preparing to take on the Prince with No Name after he kidnapped the King in book 1. For the most part, progression was slow, mixed in with some smut/spice and everything nice, but the progression was so slow that it felt like a chore to get to… I have since checked goodreads and see that people gave up on the book during this portion and I wish they knew how close they were to the good stuff! If you’ve stuck it out for 55% of the book, why not continue!
I wish they had. The last 45% of City of Ruin had me hooked. The pace improved drastically, the drama kicked up a notch and the stakes got higher and higher. If the book had been this 45% plus maybe 10 or 15% of the first 55% I would have no problems giving this book a 5 star review. Between Raina and Alexus, and Nephele and Joran, not to mention Coldan and the Prince story lines?! There was just so much good in the second half of this book.
Alexus and Joran were both brilliant in this book, and dare I say I might be more excited for the reveals in Nephele’s future than the possible ones for Alexus and Raina? I don’t know how certain I am on that because the cliff hanger leads us to believe a big portion of book 3 will be about Raina… but still… There is some crazy stuff going on!!
Spoiler about Joran – big spoiler, please don’t read unless you’ve read the book
Wow it was hard to write Joran instead of Neri!! I get full Nyktos vibes from Neri and I am totally here for it. Whilst I am sure, as I said based on the cliffhanger that book 3 will still be a lot about Raina and Alexus… I cannot wait for more Neri and Nephele! Nephele is a brilliant character, her love for those around her make me forgive her for making a stupid deal with the God that literally everyone else was saying ‘pack your bags’ to! But she’s strong, and I trust she can handle herself… But I’m excited none the less.
That’s why I’m struggling so much! I much preferred the second half of City of Ruin to even The Witch Collector, but as Goodreads shows a lot of people will not stick through a book if they have to read over half of it in order to get to the good stuff! I could not give City of Ruin anything less than a 3.5 as it was better than book 1… but I couldn’t give it anymore than a 4 because as I said there is ‘pushing through’ and then there is almost hate reading… you shouldn’t have to read 50% of a book before you get to the good stuff…
Will I be reading book 3? You betcha!! Did you miss the part where I said the last 45% of the book was great? Well the last 5% had my damn jaw on the ground!!! However, I can understand why not everyone would make the decision to push through the way I have. If you’re okay with half of the book being little bits of plot and mostly sexy time with the main characters, then perhaps you wouldn’t find the first half to be a slog… but I like story and plot with my smut and the progression just wasn’t there.
Ultimately, I settled on 3.75. I just couldn’t give it the 3.5 and I didn’t think it deserved the 4. But for the sake of rating systems, it gets a 4 because i’m not lowering it to 3.5 or 3 – it does deserve better than that.
“I think I’ve loved you for my entire life,” I whisper. “And when we’re both gone, I will love you still.”
Reading With Tyler 
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