A Wild and Ruined Song

By: Ashley Shuttleworth

Narrated by: Vikas Adam, Michael Crouch, Neo Cihi, Natalie Naudus, Imani Jade Powers

Arlo and her friends struggle to rally against an overwhelming foe before time runs out in this gripping final book in the Hollow Star Saga, the urban fantasy series about fae in Toronto that’s The Cruel Prince meets City of Bones!

Arlo Jarsdel has lost everything. Her family. Her freedom. Her name. And now that she’s sharing her body with Ruin, the formidable titan of devastation, she’s even beginning to lose herself.

In their most dangerous game of deception yet, Arlo has just one goal: destroy the three Bone Crowns corrupting the mortal and immortal realms before her time runs out and Ruin takes permanent control of her being.

With Celadon fighting on the political front against the ruthless High Queen Riadne—now armed with the cataclysmic power of her Crown, the Sins, and Ruin—Vehan and Aurelian are scrambling in secret to build an army to rival Riadne’s infernal forces. Meanwhile, Nausicaä will do whatever it takes to save her girlfriend from obliteration, despite knowing the odds of survival are nearly nonexistent.

When the line between hero and villain becomes blurred, and bonds are put to the ultimate test, it has never been more imperative—or more difficult—to stand united. For this is not the first lifetime that these five friends have faced the evil behind this impending war, but if they can’t find their way back to each other, it might just be their last.

You can't help but keep listening

This series dragged me under and kept me reading until the end.

The characters are so lively, relateable... and voiced to a perfection that makes you feel a part of their group.

I have gotten so invested I just never wanted to stop reading it.

Was only sad it is now complete and over.

Beautiful

I will never be able to put into words how beautiful and well written this series was. I love knowing can always go back and read each book again and again. But it will always make me so happy hearing the happy ending over and over again. Such a beautiful series and I hope she makes more like it!

very amazing, and honestly just wow.

absolutely amazing in every way! wish there was more quite frankly, but it ended very well and conclusively!

It's been four years

I've been listening to this series as it has been released. I recommend it to anyone and everyone who will listen. I cannot stress enough how much I love the world, the characters, the story, the fantasy.

*POTENTIAL SPOILERS*
That being said, this confused me. I think I'll have to read the physical book because there were scenes that weren't clear as to who was actually in them.

Also, we did not need even one smutty chapter with these characters. Part of what I adore about this series is the love and friendship and overall safe space away from the current trend of every fantasy story being sexual.

On a completely different note, the choice to avoid the final battle is one I genuinely feel had to be either an editorial decision or a bad case of writer's block, because IT HAS BEEN FOUR YEARS and I don't understand why you wouldn't include this scene. For all of the ways this series mirrors epic literature, as the references it makes, and the fact that the rest of the series is dense with detail and action, it seems like a disservice to the series to end it this way.

As for the voice acting, it's been four years of listening to this cast and I love them. The voice actress behind Nausicaa needs a new recording setup - you can barely hear her when she's doing inner dialogue because her voice gets so low, then other times you can just tell there's a different acoustic setup going on than the rest of the cast. Having the same voice actress read for both Arlos without any introduction or heading telling the listener which one we were hearing about also made it incredibly confusing.

very rushed

the story was fine, but the content really disappointed me. I was really ready to get more context to Arlo in her state as ruin. instead we don't really get much. not to mention skipping over an entire war scene? why? there was soooo much potential for this story and it all just felt so...flat. when i read the first book, I fell in love with it. this last book just has me really disappointed. I really feel like the story deserves better.