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KRISTEN’S REVIEW
This is the story of Naime, who is the daughter of the Sultan of Tamar, and Makram, who is the brother of the ruler of the neighboring country of Sarkum. Naime’s father’s mental health is becoming increasingly bad, and as the only heir, the Sultan’s Council is trying to marry her off to one of their sons. With plans to rule in her own right, and with an enemy threatening their borders, Naime sends a letter to Sarkum asking for an alliance, in the hopes that they will lend Tamar their military.
Sarkum’s ruler scoffs at this, since Tamar has been Sarkum’s enemy for generations, but his brother Makram sees that an alliance between their nations would be beneficial to both, so he travels to Tamar without his brother’s permission, with the hopes that he can work something out. And there he meets Naime… and sparks fly while they both try and navigate all the political maneuvering going on.
As someone who enjoys Fantasy Romance quite a lot, I enjoyed Reign & Ruin. The romance between Naime and Makram was a nice slow burn, and there was a lot of banter between them that I enjoyed. They respected each other, from beginning to end, and I liked that aspect enormously. Most of all, there was an actual plot outside of the romance, and it was an engaging one, with action and intrigue, so even outside of the kissy bits, there was entertainment to be had.
I liked Naime, and I sympathised with her struggle to lead her country herself rather than be married off to a man to have him rule instead. Naime is a powerful mage, and pretty great at sidestepping all the shenanigans her father’s Grand Vizier and his Council want to put her through. Makram was also really easy to cheer for, as he has his own unique circumstances that make his relationship with his brother, and his presence in Tamar, rather complicated. There were even a few background characters that I liked so much I wished they were less in the background.
All told, I enjoyed Reign & Ruin enough that I read most of it in one sitting, which is rare for me, these days. There were little things I could gripe about, like Naime being described as beautiful so many times it became rather annoying… but even despite those little things, I found myself so invested in the characters that I could not put it down. I will absolutely continue reading this series, because now I need to know what’s going to happen!
SPFBO PLACEMENT
For this review, I wanted to go with Kristen’s original review, as I haven’t re-read it. Reign and Ruin has edged out The Grey Bastards, landing in 4th place overall as of 9/6/25.