My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Title: Bright Ruined Things

Author: Samantha Cohoe

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 352

Publication Date: 10/26/21

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Categories: Historical Fantasy, Mystery, Magic, Romance, Shakespeare Re-imagined (Tempest), One Night

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Wednesday Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

“A deftly-plotted tale about ambition and belonging, Bright Ruined Things takes Shakespeare’s The Tempest and brilliantly reimagines its themes of family and love. Cohoe writes with a magic that dazzles and cuts right to the core.” – Chloe Gong, New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights

Forbidden magic, a family secret, and a night to reveal it all…

The only life Mae has ever known is on the island, living on the charity of the wealthy Prosper family who control the magic on the island and the spirits who inhabit it. Mae longs for magic of her own and to have a place among the Prosper family, where her best friend, Coco, will see her as an equal, and her crush, Miles, will finally see her. Now that she’s eighteen, Mae knows her time with the Prospers may soon come to an end.

But tonight is First Night, when the Prospers and their high-society friends return to the island to celebrate the night Lord Prosper first harnessed the island’s magic and started producing aether – a magical fuel source that has revolutionized the world. With everyone returning to the island, Mae finally has the chance to go after what she’s always wanted. 

When the spirits start inexplicably dying, Mae starts to realize that things aren’t what they seem. And Ivo, the reclusive, mysterious heir to the Prosper magic, may hold all the answers – including a secret about Mae’s past that she doesn’t remember. As Mae and her friends begin to unravel the mysteries of the island, and the Prospers’ magic, Mae starts to question the truth of what her world was built on. 

In this YA fantasy, Samantha Cohoe wonderfully mixes magic and an atmospheric setting into a fantastically immersive world, with characters you won’t be able to forget. 

I was intrigued about this book because the cover screamed 1920’s and reminded me of The Great Gatsby and I was in the mood to read a book in that period, but this one comes with a twist. I don’t remember much about Shakespeare’s The Tempest, since it’s been awhile I’ve read it but that’s okay, this is a reimagined version of The Tempest and it hooked my interest for sure.

The mood is set on an island full of magic, mystery and wealth. Here we are on First Night, where the Prospers and guests will celebrate how they tamed the wild spirits of the island when they first settled there. The Prospers are a powerful and wealthy family because of this magic. When they arrived on that island, they harnessed the wild magic there and became wielders of that magic. The magic, wealth and power is then passed down through generation, to an heir. The current heir is Ivo, who is one of the grandson’s of Lord Prosper, the patriarch of this powerful family.

Mae, our main character is described as this mousy, unimportant person who is a ward of Lord Prosper until her eighteenth birthday which is coming up quick. But Mae isn’t mousy, she is hungry. She has always wanted to belong on the island, and belong to the Prospers, but how? She’s just Mae, a nobody, but she decides that will change. Mae goes through many challenges in this book and it was fascinating to see how far she would go to make her plans come true.

There is an array of characters because the Prospers have a few grandchildren: Appollonia, Alasdair, Miles, Ivo and Cordelia (Coco). I love all their names, it fits the theme of the 1920’s and each character is different with their own motivations. I loved the whole mess of their interactions and it gets chaotic with Mae thrown into the mix!

While Mae is scheming her way into the Prosper family, there is another matter at hand. The spirits, who populated the island before the Prospers came and tamed them are dying. The spirits are servants to the Prospers but no one knows why they are getting ill. Truths are revealed, and Mae, along with the Prosper grandchildren learn about how the magic of the island is being harnessed and at what cost.

Triggers: violence, suicide ideation, slavery,

Mae is in love with Miles, or is she really? Or is he someone she needs to attain her goals? I needed to find out but as far as romance goes – the only one who has much of a romance drama going on is Appollonia. Mae and Miles’ connection felt frail. It bugged me a little because I wanted to know and see it play out but I will say it ended as dramatic as the whole story was from beginning to end. Mae had her heart set on one Prosper throughout the book and I don’t know that she deserved who she got in the end. I needed more.

A person who we needed to know more of? Ivo. He’s the oddball of the grandkids. He has the most magical power, he’s unkempt, and totally misunderstood but it would have been nice to really get to know him better.

I did like the mysterious setting of the story, but as far as the 1920’s? I got it from the names but they really could have taken this story and placed it in any era.

There were times in the story where I was getting frustrated with the secrecy. It was slow going. But it does come to a big climax at the end of the story, which was my favorite part because there was so much backstabbing, truth bombs, action, mystery and revenge! Choices had to be made and it was interesting to see what paths they all chose.

I’d have loved more information about the magic and background on the spirits. Maybe Aeris could have provided more of that knowledge when he wasn’t being obnoxious? It is explained a little more but near the end of the story. It would have been nice to be fed something in the beginning and middle too. But all of these events happen in one day, one special night, so it’s a tight window to get the whole story in.

I think Bright Ruined Things really captured the vibe of an island with powerful magic and something amiss. It had the mysterious island, exuberant wealth, the girl hanging on the outside wanting in, a messy not-quite-love story, family drama, complicated relationships and moral choices to make – although, those choices should have been easy ones from the moment the Prospers settled on the island. I had fun getting to know all the flawed characters in this story, where each had their own agenda. We get to see and explore their decisions, whether they are right or wrong. In the end, I was entertained, but there were times I was a bit frustrated with how little information was being revealed. Overall, I enjoyed it and finished it in one night.

📚 ~ Yolanda