SPFBO Champions: Reign & Ruin by J.D. Evans

Welcome to the SPFBO Champions’ League! As you know, this is a special edition where we try to find out who will be the ultimate Champion among the last 10 SPFBO winners. Check out our SPFBO Chamopions’ League page for more info! SPFBO Champions’ League ends on December 20th, and we’ll post our reviews every 3 weeks or so.

Our 9th SPFBO Champion review is for Reign & Ruin by J.D. Evans, the winner of SPFBO 7. The reviews within a post will be in alphabetical order.

A quick reminder about how we are proceeding in this edition: our judges had the freedom to opt out of reading any of the books due to personal interest, time restrictions, unforeseen life events, etc. Our aim is to have at least 4 reviews/scores for each Champion.

Once again, we’ll have a DNF rule in place: if a judge reads a book (if they didn’t opt out beforehand), they have to read at least 25% of it, although encouraged to read at least 50% since we are talking about champions. At whichever point they DNF, they’ll have to write a review and put a score in our spreadsheet.

As per the new rules for the SPFBO Champions’ Editidon, there aren’t going to be any public scores, but we’ll have them to help us decide the ranking. However, they won’t be shared anywhere. We will also have a mixed set of old and new reviews, meaning that if any of us reviewed a book before, we can reuse that review. Therefore, we’ll mark our reviews at the beginning as old or new.

For Reign & Ruin, we have 4 reviews for your reading pleasure.

So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at our 9th Champion!

Table of Contents

• About the Book
• Book Blurb
• Reviews
  • Drew
  • Rari
  • Timy
  • Tru

“All magic is beautiful,” she said, “and terrible. Do you not see the beauty in yours, or the terror in mine? You can stop a heart, and I can stop your breath.”

She is heir to a Sultanate that once ruled the world. He is an unwanted prince with the power to destroy.

She is order and intellect, a woman fit to rule in a man’s place. He is chaos and violence and will stop at nothing to protect his people.

His magic answers hers with shadow for light. They need each other, but the cost of balance may be too high a price. Magic is dying and the only way to save it is to enlist mages who wield the forbidden power of death, mages cast out centuries ago in a brutal and bloody war.

Now, a new war is coming. Science and machines to replace magic and old religion.

They must find a way to save their people from annihilation and balance the sacred Wheel—but first, they will have to balance their own forbidden passion. His peace for her tempest, his restlessness for her calm…

Night and day, dusk and dawn, the end, and the beginning.

Drew

Read: 100%
Review: New

Reign & Ruin follows the tensions between Tamar and Sarkum, two neighbouring nations who were once part of a single country. And may have to come together again to face a threat to them both. 

The storyline is split between the viewpoints of the two primary characters; Naime and Makram. They have several points of similarity between them; both are the heirs to their respective kingdoms, and both have been forced walk a fine line between doing their best for their people and evading the machinations of their own courts.

Since the majority of the book is spent in Tamar, Naime is the slightly better drawn of the two. The only child of the current Sultan, she has the power to act on his behalf but, being a woman, is seen by most as a potential route to the throne by marriage, rather than a potential ruler in her own right. She also faces the accelerating disintegration of her father’s mind and memory, something that will be painfully familiar to anyone who has had a relative with dementia. Between these two struggles, she has been forced to adopt a veneer of icy calm in order to cope.

Makrum, on the other hand, projects a more easy going confidence and an air of careful consideration. But it often covers over some deep rooted fears and issues, some of which are mirrored in Naime. Which leads to them being drawn to each other. 

I’m not a fan of the ‘insta-love’ trope but I do think this was done very well. The author does show both of them developing a deeper understanding of each other beyond the initial physical attraction and, given we get inside both their heads helps a lot. I think my main issue here is that the passage of time feels fuzzy, making it difficult to tell how much time has passed from their first meeting. 

But that seems like a minor quibble when there is so much else to enjoy. If you like political scheming, this has it in spades. The world has obviously been deeply planned out, with a history and magic system of strong complexity. Plus the above mentioned romance, peppered with a few spicier scenes. Maybe not something for everyone, but plenty for most.

Rari

Read: 100%
Review: New

This was read as part of SPFBO Champions Edition. I had heard this book described as a romance several times, and as I keep saying, I’m not the best reader for romance because I really don’t have the patience to read a relationship building. Which I say because I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this book, but then I started and then I looked up and the book was over and it was morning.

Sleep is VERY overrated, especially compared to books.

Naime is the daughter of the Sultan of Narfour who is in a power struggle with Berham Kadir, the Grand Vizier who has the support of the council. Naime’s sex as well as tradition is against her and her father is suffering from a magical illness that has caused him to lose himself. Naime has to fight to keep the intensity of her father’s condition from the council while jockeying for power.

The Republic that hates all magic and its users are on a campaign of conquest across the land, and Naime sees alliance with their militaristic neighbour kingdom, Sarkum, as an answer. Once Narfour and Sarkum were one nation, but internal feuds and magical differences caused a civil war and a split with the Sixth House of the Wheel forever smirched as evil.

Makram is the younger brother of the Ruler of Sarkum and is a Sixth House Mage. Like Naime, he’s all for an alliance, but his brother isn’t willing. In defiance of his brother’s wishes, Makram comes to Narfour, hoping that his brother could be convinced once the alliance is a fait accompli.

However, Kadir isn’t ready to accept the alliance, and Makram’s nature, if revealed, can put everything at risk.

As I said, I enjoyed this book a LOT more than I expected to. The world was based on the middle east, which I loved! I love seeing settings other than the same old same old medieval Europe type thing, and cultures other than the Western. The world is so richly detailed and alive. While I loved both Naime and Makram and their relationship, they’re a tad too perfect. But then, I’m getting a bit tired of flawed characters, so gimme some perfection, thank you very much.

The political intrigue now! That is LIFE. Everyone knows I LOVE books with political intrigue and I enjoyed this one a LOT.

If you love diverse fantasy with powerful characters who know their own minds, political intrigue, and romance, this is the perfect book for you.

It’s yet another series I wanted to read more of, but as unfortunately, no money.

Timy

Read: 100%
Review: New

Out of the SPFBO Champions, Reign & Ruin was the one I wanted to read out of those I haven’t yet. So this special edition was the perfect excuse to bump it up on my TBR. Romantasy is not my biggest go-to genre, but I’ve been known to enjoy some of it in recent years. Especially the M/M variety. Which, Reign & Ruin, is not. Unfortunately. Oh well.

We have two POV characters, Naime and Makram. One is the heir to a Sultanate, while Makram is the brother of the ruler of an enemy nation. They both have powerful magic at their disposal, and both are frustrated with how things are going in their respective nations. While Naime is fighting to be accepted as the Sultana, following in her father’s footsteps, in her own right – a task not made easy by her enemy, the Grand Vizier, who wants the throne for himself through a marriage with his son. Naime is smart, cunning, and well-practiced in political maneuvering thanks to her father’s guidance. Makram, on the other hand, is happiest if he can fight with his men and has no taste for politics. But he still sees the errors in his brother’s rule, despite how blind he actually is to his faults.

Naime’s last bid to save her nation from the Republic’s invasion and to earn her own freedom brings Makram and his feared death magic into the heart of the Sultanate. They both know that an alliance is what they need, but no one else seems to be seeing that. But more than a political alliance, feelings also start to grow between them, further complicating things.

Personally, I enjoyed all the political maneuvering and the games Naime plays with her court while keeping a lot of secrets. Things take a while to get going, but it’s understandable as there is a lot to establish with this new world and all the characters that Evans is moving around. I also didn’t mind the slowburn romance, which doesn’t take away too much from the main plot, even enhances it, shall we say. But I thought that the intimate scenes were too prolonged compared to other elements in the story, and I would have preferred more sexy time, but better spaced out throughout, to have a bit more balance. Then again, I do appreciate how their relationship was built up and that it wasn’t too insta-lovey, which is an easy enough trap to fall into. But I also think it would have been more fun if Makram fell in love with Ishan, Naime’s cousin.

As for the characters, I liked Naime until she had become a lovesick fool, but wasn’t a big fan of Makram, personally, with his macho attitude and a possessiveness that bordered on toxic at some points. Although, to give him credit where it’s due, he was able to come to realise some truths regarding his brother once everyone close to him kept insisting they were there. So at least he is capable of coming to his senses when it’s needed. Overall, though, I didn’t really connect with any of the characters.

All said, I enjoyed reading Reign & Ruin, especially the fact that it was Middle-Eastern inspired, even if it didn’t leave too deep marks on me. But if you enjoy political fantasy with a bit of added sexy time, by all means, give this series a chance.

Tru

Read: 100%
Review: New

For years, SPFBO has been known as a grimdark fantasy competition, with classic and grimdark fantasy usually rising to the finalist positions. Then in 2021, a romantasy book took the spotlight, winning SPFBO for that year. It was a shocking turn of events that led to more romantasy and even cozy fantasy making it to the finals in subsequent years. That book was Reign & Ruin, proof that fantasy comes in all flavours.

Before I’d even opened Reign & Ruin, I’d heard it was a ‘mature’ romantasy that even non-romantasy fans would enjoy. I’ve read typical romantasy in my time and had mixed feelings. Reign & Ruin is a Middle Eastern-inspired romantasy that’s half romantasy, half political fantasy, and that’s the half that worried me more, as I find myself bored by politically-heavy books, mostly because they tend to be overwhelming with names and details of kingdoms I don’t care about, but I didn’t find this book overwhelming in the same way.

We start the story with Naime, the Sultana, daughter to the Sultan, whose failing health means he must find a successor. Naturally, our Sultana is an intelligent and independent woman who would sooner rule as queen, but her father’s scheming council, namely the Grand Vizier, would rather marry her off and take the Sultan’s place. Alongside this, a neighbouring Republic threatens war and Naime wants to make an alliance with an old enemy nation, preferably before she’s betrothed, and she contacts them, desperately waiting for an envoy.

In steps Makram, brother to the leader of said nation, who goes against his brother’s wishes to travel to Naime and open a negotiation process. The council rightly don’t trust him, and this leads to some shenanigans as Makram proves himself worthy. Naturally, this is a romance, so Naime and Makram find themselves irresistibly attracted to one another. They try to fight this growing attraction, as they both know it would never work out politically, but they don’t try particularly hard. As the politics unravel in the background, we’re treated to some spicy scenes.

As I stated before, politics does tend to bore me, however the story did get quite exciting after the halfway point when real danger and states took the stage. My favourite scenes were of Naime and Makram together, as they were both fun when playing off each other. There were a few aspects of the romance that didn’t quite work for me though. Firstly, I didn’t get a great sense of time passing through the story, so it feels like they fell in love over the span of days. Second, we see Naime as an independent woman, but she loses some of that in her relationship with Makram. Makram himself is quite feminist and progressive, given the patriarchal system of the worldbuilding, but he also has a minor possessive streak I don’t like—holding Naime’s arms, telling her she can only like the colour black etc. I wanted Naime to bite back at these things.

Despite my niggles, Reign & Ruin is a great introduction to romantasy for those that want to dip their toes into the genre, and those who want more politics and fantasy in their romance.

For more SPFBO content, please visit our SPFBO Champions’ League page!