Of Darkness and Ruination
The Star Queen Chronicles, Book 1
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.
Add to basket failed.
Please try again later
Add to wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Adding to library failed
Please try again
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
£0.00 for first 30 days
LIMITED TIME OFFER
Get 3 months for £0.99/mo
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.
Of Darkness and Ruination
Narrated by:
Alexa Borys, E.M. Wylde
Buy Now for £21.99
-
Narrated by:
-
Alexa Borys
-
E.M. Wylde
-
By:
-
Rachel Fallon
About this listen
Starlight in her veins, and a soul that calls for darkness.
On the magical continent of Celesterra, all humans are enslaved to the ruling fae...
Asteria Zagreus, a mortal young woman enslaved on Celesterra, must face Placement Day, the one day where all humans, at the age of Twenty-One, are placed in new kingdoms and given new masters to serve. Come Placement Day, Asteria is forced into the Dusk Kingdom and given to its Prince, Cyrus Tynan. When she refuses him and his desires, Asteria realizes she has only one option: escaping her enslavement and finding something thought impossible—freedom. Asteria must begin to play her own game within the court...and with the Prince of Dusk Kingdom himself.
Enemies come from all sides, however, and the merciless ruler of the Night Kingdom, King Calix Atarah Erebus, starts making his move against the Dusk Kingdom. Yet, darkness calls to Asteria in mysterious ways, and an equally mysterious soldier makes her question who the real monsters are—especially when it comes to a brutal king and a callous prince. With a bloody war brewing on the horizon, Asteria must decide who the true villain of her story is. Her choice, and the consequences of it, will ripple out across the continent.
Chaos rises, resistance gathers, and a soulmate bond is tested, while Asteria begins down a path that will change the course of history...
Of Darkness and Ruination is the first book in a compelling new adult romantic fantasy series featuring contrasting light and dark love interests and the delicate line of balance and chaos for a magical land. Plus fae shifters, court intrigue, resistance to slavery, a shadow daddy love interest who can shift into a dragon, and a heroine finding her own power and fighting for what she believes in. Perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas, Jennifer L Armentrout, Clare Sager, Nisha J Tuli, Carissa Broadbent, Chloe C. Peñaranda, and Raven Kennedy!
©2024 Rachel Fallon (P)2024 Rachel FallonSpice🌶🌶🌶
🗡Enemies to Lovers
⛓️ Fae Shifters
🖤Dragon Shifters
☠️ Touch her and die
🔥Forbidden love
👑Courtly Intrigue
😈Shadow Daddy
❤️Fated Mates
🎙🎧🎚AUDIO BOOK REVIEW:
This book has dual narration, which means all of the female parts are spoken by a female, and male parts are spoken by a male. The narrators did a wonderful job with this book, both of their voices suited the book, and their characters were easy to pick out from the others. With great vocal changes and drama in their voices, they turned this book into a movie in your mind.
🌶The spicy, romantic, and tense moments created between the main characters came across so beautifully by the narrators. Especially the snippets of intimate connection in the midst of utter chaos that really pulled the relationship depths through to the front of the mind even with so much going on. Another reviewer wrote - [these moments] gave the story heart without softening its sharp edges, and the narration between Calix and Asteria's characters in these moments is pure aural pleasure. And I completely agree.
🗡One thing I know is that if I had read the book without the audio, then I wouldn't have fallen for it the way I have. But since I listened to the audiobook with such fierce narration, in a read along with my kindle, I had the best of both worlds and felt the depth or the story in my heart.
💀Further down, I mention that there are some repeated themes - basically
Asteria continuously whines about hating everything, and I understand it already - we really don't need her rage and injustice ramming down our throats every 2 seconds. There are a couple of other repeats along with Asteria's that didn't need to keep being mentioned - we already know, you do NOT have to keep referring back or refreshing our memories! it was just too much to read / listen to again and again. BUT, listening made it easier to forget the repetative nature due to the narrators enthusiasm and ferocity
The book is long, BUT the audio made it easy to go through without making me want to flip/ skim or skip parts or pages.
📖🔖📜BOOK REVIEW:
📖From the very first chapter, Of Darkness and Ruination I was thrown into a deliciously imagined world of fae kingdoms, dark romance, power hungry monarchs, fragile alliances, and STRONG women that werent prepared to sit down and do as theyre told. The emotionally charged storm of lust, love, jealousy, and obsession will have you unable to put this book down.
🌍The world building was expansive and detailed without being overwhelming or intimidating, making it simply easy to picture. The pacing was steady and thorough, which kept me hooked way past 4am!
First of all I loved the multiple POV towards the end but really wish it happened throughout the book, it really could have helped the characters stand out more and become more relatable.
Asteria is our FMC and is written as a rage filled human thats in deep with the brutal politics of the fae, and she is NOT content with being a slave for any of them. her character growth is epic as you can see her passion, vulnerability, and her strong sense of right and wrong that makes her resilience to the cruel world of the fae all the more powerful.
However, it's a little annoying how she's full of a big game in her head but doesn't really do much about it. I kept expecting a move on her part after reading such determined monologues, but it didn't really come.
The villain of the story I calix, what a shadow daddy! I adore it when a shadow power can be controlled to reach out to hurt AND caress people 😍 My fave kind of shaddow daddy is the one that will play the part- any part, that will help his heroine. Including being the bad guy just for her.
The relationships between our FMC, MMC & antagonist is where Fallon’s writing really shines. The beauty in the writing shines brightly against the dark threats and high stakes surrounding the three of them. Their chemistry , yearning, tension, and emotional banter and dealings that go back and forth make it nearly impossible to stop turning the page!
🤔WHY NO 5 STARS?
It didn't get a full 5 stars because there were a lot of lines repeated throughout the book, the FMC kept going on and on about how she doesn't do friends because they're a liability and how she should or should not be doing xyz... it got REALLY annoying!
🔥Final Thoughts:
If you're a fan of women putting men in their place while also being able to curl up to the right man, then this is for you. Filled with lots of slow burn tension, morally grey fae creating a battling love triangle, relentless women who refuse to break, Of Darkness and Ruination is worth reading.
the audio is the only way to read this book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
meh....repetitive and boring
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Sadly boring
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
ᴛɪᴛʟᴇ : Of Darkness and Ruination
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ : Rachel Fallon
ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ : Book 1 of The Star Queen Chronicles
Firstly, the cover to this book is GORGEOUS! I adore the colors. ( Also there is an accompanying Spotify playlist which is amazing )
Tropes Include:
⚬ Enemies to Lovers
⚬ Fae Shifters
⚬ Dragon Shifters
⚬ Touch her and die
⚬ Forbidden love
⚬ Courtly Intrigue
⚬ 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 5 Spice
⚬ Shadow Daddy
⚬ Fated Mates
This book is about a young human woman who after turning 21 has to attend placement day. All Humans in Celesterra are slaves to the Fae. Asteria gets chosen to be the ‘Personal Assistant’ to the Crown Prince of Dusk, something she doesn’t want. Arriving in Dusk she learns about the attacks from the Night Court, the most mysterious of courts seen as they do not attend placement day and have closed of their borders. You follow her journey in Dusk and see how she plans to escape from being a slave to the fae.
The author did a really good job at the world building, you could picture easily what she was explaining and I am beyond grateful for the Glossary at the beginning! As a Dyslexic, sometimes I pronounce names widely wrong in my head 🤣 So thank you 🙏🏻
I loved Aesteria! You could feel her rage through the pages. She is a strong women who doesn’t take rubbish! Even when she is supposed to! I love how she held herself but also did falter here and there. She’s only human after all…….
Cyrus? Urgh no thanks? Goodbye. Hate him, he can be binned what a vile idiot.
Now Calix? Swoon! He is a shadow daddy through and through! I adore it when a shadow power can caress someone 😍 I love how passionate about his cause is, how he doesn’t mind being and looking like the bad guy.
Now them spice scenes???? Holy moly fire!!!! Wow they was hot and I loved them!!! PRAYING there is more in book 2!
The ending?!?!?! Omg it was like you could finally breathe along with Aesteria! I cannot wait till she meets others…. No spoilers here! 😍
My new obsession!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.