RUINSONG

Two young women shift from childhood friends to enemies to lovers.

In Cavalia, cruel Queen Elene has complete control of her population. Cadence is a corporeal mage; weaving spells through song, she can manipulate others’ bodies for healing, pleasure, or pain. This is Cadence’s first year as the Principal in the Performing, an annual event during which sadistic Elene forces singers to torture the kingdom’s nobles. Noble Remi is Cadence’s estranged childhood friend, attending the Performing in place of her chronically ill mother. Through a series of chance encounters, the teens reconnect. When Elene discovers their relationship, she forces Remi to become a prisoner/companion to Cadence to manipulate them both. As their fates become more intertwined, both Cadence and Remi must decide how far their feelings for each other go and what they’re willing to sacrifice to unseat the powerful queen. Both girls’ alternating first-person narrations often read like exposition, and occasionally repetitive background information feels underutilized. The setting—which evokes 19th-century Europe—sometimes clashes with more contemporary vocabulary. Uneven pacing slowly builds before racing to the finish. Descriptions of violence committed by corporeal mages are graphic but not gratuitous. Cadence, Remi, and Elene are White; diversity is woven into the text through Black background characters, Remi’s body positivity, Cadence’s dyslexia, and sign language.

Despite uneven craft, readers looking for inclusive Sapphic fantasy will be pleased to find this.