I'm not rating this book because unfortunately it was a dnf for me. I loved the first installment, but this felt like we were starting a completely new story, not continuing one. It wasn't even that it was bad, because it wasn't, but it was so different in tone that the characters didn't feel the same and it threw from the story. I no longer felt connected to anyone so I just stopped caring.

Edit:. Netgalley forces a star rating for you to post a review, so please disregard my star rating. I didn't want to hurt or help the rating, soi went with directly in the middle.

“Life isn't given to be deserved. It's given to be lived. If you can find one thing that makes it worth seeing another day, then you've done all you're meant to do.” Many things I loved about this book, but a TON going on and what feels like a million characters/stories to keep track of.

I loved 'A Song of Wraiths and Ruins' when I read it in 2020.

Sadly the sequel did not live up to the enjoyment of the first book. There was so much potential here that did not see itself through. The writing is still wonderfully done, but the pacing felt slow and underwhelming. I personally also really dislike the miscommunication trope that seems to be so prevalent in YA books.

I would still recommend this series, as the first book is so well done. Just be ready for the sequel to be not quite as good. I'm looking forward to reading other titles by Roseanne A. Brown. (Maybe an adult book in the future one day?....)

An interesting follow-up to what was a good first book, this was a good read that developed the characters and the story. I didn't fall in love with it, but I had a good time reading it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to HarperCollins Children's Books for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. Sadly, I was unable to finish this and stopped 20% of the way through.

This is the sequel and finale to a series, continuing where the first book left off.

There's a lot of great world-building and character-building in this book, but for me, the pacing was incredibly slow and dragged on. I will say, I loved the first one so I'll try re-reading it and then read this again and this review will be updated to reflect my current opinion in the future. For now, to me, it's a disappointing continuation with a snail pace plot.

"A Psalm of Storms and Silence" picks up right where "A Song of Wraiths and Ruin" ended -- Karina has fled her kingdom of Sonande after Farid's betrayal and the resurrection of her long-dead sister. Now she finds herself on a quest to regain what was rightfully hers. Malik, meanwhile, finds himself allied with Farid, who uses him to find Karina.

What follows is an action-packed adventure of redemption with a touch of the romance readers have been wanting since book one! I did find some of the questing confusing as there were a lot of relics, gods, and history to keep track of. Also, I felt personally attacked by that ending. I won't spoil anything, but being told what's what by the omniscient narrator that addresses the reader at the start of the book left me unfulfilled, but ashamed for it. I did, however, enjoy the story, which read quickly and provided a great resolution to the end of this short series.

A beautiful and stunning end, Malik and Karina have my heart! "A Psalm of Storms and Silence" has more magic, romance and amazing tales. I loved the chemistry of the characters and the world expanding. Roseanne's narrative is so incredible! The battle scenes... what a ride! In every chapter we felt the power of this story, the culture, the kindness of the author with her characters. Hope you enjoy this as much as me, cause this book is huge, sensible and very intense.

Thanks HarperCollins for the advance reader's e-proof.

Despite McGuffin after MacGuffin, this is a reasonably satisfying concluding volume. While the pace is occasionally quite slow, there are some absolute gems involving character development and charming fourth wall breaking by Hyena and Ife. No spoilers, but he epilogue was a lovely touch.

A riveting and beautiful conclusion to the duology! Brown weaves a tale that is intriguing and captivating and brings this epic story to its ending in a beautiful way! I will now be reading anything this author releases!

It took me a little while to get into this book, but I'm glad I stuck it out to finish the duology. The pace is definitely slower, and it feels like not as much happens until the second half of the book. It feels like the plot is very character driven as well as the continuation of world building. I loved the development of the relationship between Malik and Karina as they both came to understand where things went wrong and what they both needed to do to save the people they loved.

I liked the concept of the four omens, particularly the last one. I felt like that was the twist the story needed and made the events from the end of book and the revival of Karina's sister come full circle. I also liked the intermittent story that broke up the alternating points of view between Karina and Malik. It added to the overall effects of the story and shed light as to how things unfolded the way they did. I liked how it was woven into what was happening to Karina and Malik at that time.

While I am definitely a HEA person and this story wasn't exactly that, I loved how the author chose to wrap the story up. It left us with the idea that stories never end and that one story's ending is another story's beginning. It was a beautiful and unique way to wrap up a book.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed in this sequel, as it was missing all the action and story I loved in A Song of Wraiths and Ruin. This seems to be more interested in setting up a world rather than continuing the plot that the reader is already invested in.

A powerhouse finale to this incredible duology! Roseanne A. Brown is a writer to watch for sure. I normally don't love duology enders but Karina and Malik's ending felt fitting, though not necessarily what I had been expecting.

ROSEANNE BROWN HAS DONE IT AGAIN! WHAT A MASTERPIECE! I was delighted to get to reconnect with my besties Malik and Karina. I cannot write in words how much I adore these two characters, and getting to see them interact post "I have to kill you to lovers" was so fun! Malik stays iconic as always with his hilarious one liners, and Karina's unwavering confidence actually wavers? what? I was taken aback by the change in Karina's personality in this book, but it was understandable that the trauma of the first book took a toll on her. Also, I lowkey forgot a bunch of the events from the first book and read this one based purely on ~vibes~

The vibes were IMMACULATE! In case you can't tell, I'm a huge Roseanne Brown fan and this book only doubled my immense love for her and her stories.

Content warning: physical and emotional abuse, mass violence, suicidal ideation

World building takes vision, strong world building is apparent when the next book in a series reveals fresh nuance to the world’s lore. In A Psalm of Storms and Silence, Roseanne A. Brown has carefully crafted Sonande, a land full of historical injustice whose weight challenges the budding love between her spiritually-crossed protagonists.

As the second and final installment of the A Song of Wraiths and Ruin series, readers should be well acquainted with anxious griot illusionist Malik and curious wind witch Princess Karina—especially because we pick up with each character not long after we left them in ASOWAR. Princess Karina has found herself in one of the most unlikely of alliances with a former suitor in the competition to win her hand in the Solstasia (the focal point of book one). They are joined by the young magic—or nkra—sensitive mage that befriended Karina when she most questioned her abilities and how they had bearing in the loss of her family. In a case of the lost leading the lost, they navigate their way to finding Karina an armed force that will help Karina retake the kingdom she lost through betrayal in A Song of Wraiths and Ruin. But as Karina runs toward a hopeful shelter, we also find that she is running away from two people whose very existence leaves her with more questions than she has the courage to bear. Unfortunately for her, one of those people, Malik, appears to her in her dreams regardless of how far she ventures. With her former guards searching for her posted throughout the country and Sonande citizens in states of unrest everywhere she travels, Karina is forced to brave her emotional consternation surrounding her family, magical abilities, royal responsibility, and love life sooner rather than later.

Malik, on the other hand, has gained everything he was ever supposed to want in the wake of Karina’s departure from the seat of the kingdom, Ziran. He and his sisters have stable and well-appointed housing within the palace at the behest of their new host, who has also agreed to train Malik in their shared, lost, magical arts. This training couldn’t come at a better time, as Malik continues to hold the centuries-old magical deity that held his younger sister hostage in a spirit world to blackmail Malik into seizing control of the kingdom within the confines of his mind. Ironically, it is this malicious deity who questions Malik’s new benefactor’s motives after he continues to abuse Malik under the guise of ‘training.’ Not even Malik’s trustworthy and loyal older sister can dissuade him from seeing his mentor in a good light until Malik is forced to take on tasks that counter his morals.

A Psalm of Storms and Silence is chock full not only of quality plot and intrigue but also a sense of adventure and discovery that still feels fresh in a world where new YA stories centered on these very themes are released every week. I personally enjoyed this book more than the first and would recommend it to those who appreciate the author’s voice and want to experience it disentangled from the competition framework. It’s well worth the addition to your TBR.

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin was one of my favorite reads of 2020. I recommended it to everyone. I flew through it.

A Psalm of Storms and Silence is a slower read, and it took more effort for me to want to continue reading, and I often found myself picking it up just because I wanted to finish the series. Once I hit the middle of the book, it was a lot easier to read and a lot faster. As long as you push through, you'll get to the conclusion you're hoping for.

3.5 stars rounded up!

This was a really well done conclusion to a strong duology. The world really expanded in this book from ASOWAR. I think that the confusions from book one were wrapped up. This book may have been a little too long and it meandered a bit in the middle, but man that ending!

Brown is a master and this book is just as good as, if not better than, the first. I loved every minutes of it and can't wait to see what she does next.

2.75 - While A Psalm of Storms and Silence had all the elements present for success, the sequel suffered from having too many plots, characters, and ideas stuffed into one book; this series would have benefited from an extra book to successfully tell the story that Brown set out to tell. Despite loving the first book and having read it multiple times, I struggled to understand what was going on in this book. We jumped between so many places, conflicts, and plots that I was left confused; I actually restarted the book after I was halfway through because I couldn't wrap my head around what was going on. Multiple new side characters were introduced, but I never felt like I was given the space or time to connect to them. The conflict set up at the end of book 1 and presented at the beginning of the book is not necessarily the one that is resolved at the climax, and the rushed and open ending left me feeling disappointed. An extra book would have given more time to fully explore the excellent mythology and history that Brown constructed for this series and allowed for better pacing to let the various conflicts introduced in this novel develop more naturally.

This was an absolutely stunning conclusion to the ASOWAR duology! I think Roseanne Brown really excels with characterization and making them very 3 dimensional and real. However, the plot did seem to drag on just a tad bit. Not too much that I was bored and didn't want to read but it wasn't as good as I had hoped.