Book: Souls in Ruin by Jacqueline White
Reviewed by Anonymous
Rating: 6/5
Thank you to NetGalley and Scarlett Press for providing an advanced reader copy of Souls in Ruin by Jacqueline White in exchange for an honest review.
This novel is a dark fantasy filled with gods, blood oaths, torture, obsession, morally gray characters, and a seriously addictive love triangle!
Check your trigger warnings before going into this one.. this is a truly DARK book. Torture, blood, violence, captivity, and some seriously disturbing themes are all here.
Mireille is the bastard princess of the King of Vareth. Hated by her stepmother and essentially unwanted by her father, she only truly cares about two people in the whole realm.. her best friend Isolde and her three year old half sister, Lysa.
She is traded off to a rival kingdom and married to King Valen, the infamous Blood King. Their marriage is sealed with blood oaths, and despite everything, Mireille immediately feels drawn to him. But after their wedding feast, everything changes. The castle is captured, everyone is slaughtered, and Valen transforms into Vharok, an ancient god of blood and conquest. Mireille’s family is killed, though Isolde and Lysa escape, and she is thrown into the dungeon and left alone in the darkness to rot. She nearly dies there until the mysterious god in the cell beside hers heals her, bringing her back from death.
But surviving doesn't mean she's safe. Valen intends to torture her as revenge for the years her father imprisoned and tormented him. And he does exactly that. Weeks and weeks of pain, blood, darkness, isolation and suffering follow.
Eventually, Valen brings her out of the dungeon and displays her at a feast like a prized possession, even putting a collar around her neck. Mireille then does what she would come to regret, she bites him. And pays for it.
Back in the dungeon, Valen punishes her by using his blood against her, driving her into an overwhelming, maddening hunger of unquenchable, burning bloodlust. It completely consumes her. But right before she ascends into madness, the mysterious prisoner beside her shares his blood with her and frees her from Valen's torment. Only now she wants HIM just as completely.
By the end, Mireille finds herself caught between two gods.. one who claims her blood and one who claims her soul.
And that TWIST. The ending was EVERYTHING. This book was dark, twisted, divine, bloody, and completely unhinged in the best possible way. There were moments where I genuinely had to sit back and process what I had just read, but I just could not. stop. reading. I am absolutely invested and NEED to know where this story goes next.