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The Siren Mage #2
In the Wake of the Ruined
Not yet published
Expected 7 Jul 26The realm has a new queen… and a new monster.
Imogen can no longer hide. She has claimed her ancestral crown, and now the corrupted bond she shares with the ancient deity Eusia is stronger than ever. Though she is determined to sever it, doing so is no easy feat. The threat of war looms. Shifting alliances, a hunger for magic, and her feelings for Theodore, King of Varya, attempt to thwart her at every turn.
Meanwhile, Theodore is battling the strain of his own crown and commitments. When Imogen suddenly appears on his ship, every dutiful resolution he’s ever made threatens to snap. As they draw nearer to ending Eusia, lurking dangers and their perilous desire for one another prove more insurmountable than they could have imagined.
Will the chaos, ruin, and death that Imogen was prophesied to usher into the realm be the end of all things, or the beginning?
Imogen can no longer hide. She has claimed her ancestral crown, and now the corrupted bond she shares with the ancient deity Eusia is stronger than ever. Though she is determined to sever it, doing so is no easy feat. The threat of war looms. Shifting alliances, a hunger for magic, and her feelings for Theodore, King of Varya, attempt to thwart her at every turn.
Meanwhile, Theodore is battling the strain of his own crown and commitments. When Imogen suddenly appears on his ship, every dutiful resolution he’s ever made threatens to snap. As they draw nearer to ending Eusia, lurking dangers and their perilous desire for one another prove more insurmountable than they could have imagined.
Will the chaos, ruin, and death that Imogen was prophesied to usher into the realm be the end of all things, or the beginning?
432 pages, Paperback
Expected publication July 7, 2026
8071 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 23, 2025
FIVE BAJILLION STARS (and that epilogue made me weep)
yearning was off the charts again
Bookstagram | Blog
yearning was off the charts again
Bookstagram | Blog
Want to read
August 10, 2025ive sold my soul to immy & theo - i need this book more than i need air
August 25, 2025
Just finished #1 in 48 hours, as I literally could not put it down. I need #2 like Eusia needs Imogen’s and Theo’s blood: ASAP!!! 😫🩸🧜♀️
February 18, 2026
Thank you to Little, Brown for the ARC. This was my most highly anticipated book of 2026. I read 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘝𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 in a single day right after it was published, was immediately utterly obsessed, and recommended it to everyone I knew. The cliffhanger was insane and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.
𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 was the opposite. It took me five whole days to finish it because I literally kept falling asleep. Compared to the first book, this one is painfully dense. Part 1 was very difficult to trudge through. Part 2 was okay, but felt rushed. Part 3 held all the plot twists which I (unfortunately) could see from a mile away, but I had useless information fatigue wasn’t interested in the least.
Cassidy needs to trust that the readers can read between the lines, we don’t need everything spoon-fed to us– but that’s exactly what she does with this book. The unnecessary descriptions and world-building was what held the story back majorly. I don’t know if Cassidy wasn’t set on writing a second book, or if she was just rushed to pump this story out for the publisher, but (in my opinion) this book lacks true 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵. There’s no other way I can describe it. I felt nothing reading this, which was shocking and disappointing because I don’t know of anyone else who wants to love this book more than myself. I hope constructive criticism can be taken and the book that is sent out into the world in July will be different than this.
𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 was the opposite. It took me five whole days to finish it because I literally kept falling asleep. Compared to the first book, this one is painfully dense. Part 1 was very difficult to trudge through. Part 2 was okay, but felt rushed. Part 3 held all the plot twists which I (unfortunately) could see from a mile away, but I had useless information fatigue wasn’t interested in the least.
Cassidy needs to trust that the readers can read between the lines, we don’t need everything spoon-fed to us– but that’s exactly what she does with this book. The unnecessary descriptions and world-building was what held the story back majorly. I don’t know if Cassidy wasn’t set on writing a second book, or if she was just rushed to pump this story out for the publisher, but (in my opinion) this book lacks true 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵. There’s no other way I can describe it. I felt nothing reading this, which was shocking and disappointing because I don’t know of anyone else who wants to love this book more than myself. I hope constructive criticism can be taken and the book that is sent out into the world in July will be different than this.
Read
August 29, 2025WHO DO I NEED TO SACRIFICE FOR THIS BOOK. I am in dire need of Book #2 immediately.
Want to read
August 27, 2025I will actually start weeping if I don’t get to know what happens next soon. My sweet angel baby Theo needs to fix everything okay? And Immy, girl I want you to go full Dianna Martinez but with, like, water and drown everyone okay? Okay.
December 10, 2025
HELP IM STILL AT THE RESTAURANT
February 2, 2026
Oh Immy goes through a lot in this book! Reader, buckle up!
I have so so so many things to say about this wonderful book, please bear with me.
First of all, if ITVOTD was Theo’s and Immy’s love story, this book is about Immy learning to accept and love herself. It felt very cathartic for me, a woman in her 30s, to read this. Now obviously we all grow up at different paces, but it definitely took me to wait until I was in my 30s to learn to accept all that I am, and reading this book while going through the same experience as Immy felt divine. Indeed, how do we find accept and love ourselves as women, even the horrible parts we’re taught to silence and look away from? How do we own what we want, how dare we name it and accept it? It’s terrifying! Here’s a sentence I highlighted in the book: “As a girl, I’d done all that I could to survive. Denying myself, lying, hiding. Clipping away the parts of myself that were not acceptable, keeping myself pleasant and unassuming. I hadn’t let myself hope for anything more then, so as not to break my own heart.”
Second, I will reiterate what I had already said in my review of ITVOTD: calling this duology “romantasy” feels so reductive! Now don’t get me wrong, I love romantasy (I’m also aware that it is a genre that does not have very clear boundaries). BUT. Kalie Cassidy is a master at blending genres, and I genuinely have felt more like I was reading a mystery, gothic horror, book for most of the time then a romance (this is not to say that the romance isn’t spotless because it is, Theo is chef’s kiss).
Another thing that I absolutely loved about ITWOTR is that this book was as much about women’s rights as it was about women’s wrongs. The villain’s (and its accomplices’) anger feels righteous here (or at lease I couldn’t help but empathize); as such, it raises important points on justice, fairness, and how oppressive, unjust, systems can create monsters out of all of us; it’s about looking straight in the eyes the part inside of us that wants to lash out. Kalie Cassidy takes so much care here in depicting women in all their complexity and messiness: sure we’ve been raised (or socialized rather) to be “good”, but what happens when you get tired of that? What does it take to seek justice? And what is justice? I think a very important point made by the book is that seeking justice and revenge just for yourself is not the solution.
Which leads me to my next point: power is a very important topic in the book: “I knew the terror of powerlessness better than most. I knew what it was to crave the ability to exact some force over your own existence.” And obviously I couldn’t help but reflect on the narrative of “women’s empowerment”: we talk a lot of women’s empowerment, but as the book shows, when a woman is empowered, or tries to empower herself, what does it mean about the power she then gets? How do we handle power? What is power? Power over others? Or power in order to gain agency over one’s life? Who holds you accountable? I could go on and on. I think a lot of readers will reflect on this book in different ways, which makes it so exciting.
Any way, as you can tell, I feel like a whole essay could be written about this. Kalie Cassidy wrote a book that feels incredibly romantic, poignant, and still makes very incisive commentary on important current political topics.
Thank you so much Kalie for the ARC!
I have so so so many things to say about this wonderful book, please bear with me.
First of all, if ITVOTD was Theo’s and Immy’s love story, this book is about Immy learning to accept and love herself. It felt very cathartic for me, a woman in her 30s, to read this. Now obviously we all grow up at different paces, but it definitely took me to wait until I was in my 30s to learn to accept all that I am, and reading this book while going through the same experience as Immy felt divine. Indeed, how do we find accept and love ourselves as women, even the horrible parts we’re taught to silence and look away from? How do we own what we want, how dare we name it and accept it? It’s terrifying! Here’s a sentence I highlighted in the book: “As a girl, I’d done all that I could to survive. Denying myself, lying, hiding. Clipping away the parts of myself that were not acceptable, keeping myself pleasant and unassuming. I hadn’t let myself hope for anything more then, so as not to break my own heart.”
Second, I will reiterate what I had already said in my review of ITVOTD: calling this duology “romantasy” feels so reductive! Now don’t get me wrong, I love romantasy (I’m also aware that it is a genre that does not have very clear boundaries). BUT. Kalie Cassidy is a master at blending genres, and I genuinely have felt more like I was reading a mystery, gothic horror, book for most of the time then a romance (this is not to say that the romance isn’t spotless because it is, Theo is chef’s kiss).
Another thing that I absolutely loved about ITWOTR is that this book was as much about women’s rights as it was about women’s wrongs. The villain’s (and its accomplices’) anger feels righteous here (or at lease I couldn’t help but empathize); as such, it raises important points on justice, fairness, and how oppressive, unjust, systems can create monsters out of all of us; it’s about looking straight in the eyes the part inside of us that wants to lash out. Kalie Cassidy takes so much care here in depicting women in all their complexity and messiness: sure we’ve been raised (or socialized rather) to be “good”, but what happens when you get tired of that? What does it take to seek justice? And what is justice? I think a very important point made by the book is that seeking justice and revenge just for yourself is not the solution.
Which leads me to my next point: power is a very important topic in the book: “I knew the terror of powerlessness better than most. I knew what it was to crave the ability to exact some force over your own existence.” And obviously I couldn’t help but reflect on the narrative of “women’s empowerment”: we talk a lot of women’s empowerment, but as the book shows, when a woman is empowered, or tries to empower herself, what does it mean about the power she then gets? How do we handle power? What is power? Power over others? Or power in order to gain agency over one’s life? Who holds you accountable? I could go on and on. I think a lot of readers will reflect on this book in different ways, which makes it so exciting.
Any way, as you can tell, I feel like a whole essay could be written about this. Kalie Cassidy wrote a book that feels incredibly romantic, poignant, and still makes very incisive commentary on important current political topics.
Thank you so much Kalie for the ARC!
Want to read
November 12, 2025WE HAVE A COVER AND IT'S GLOOOOOOOOORIOUS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH
THANK YOU ALINE
THANK YOU ALINE
tbr
September 7, 2025Where's the release date???
Want to read
September 16, 2025I'M JUST FINDING OUT WE HAVE A TITLE FOR THIS?!
January 15, 2026
Kalie Cassidy is That Girl. Formal review TK — just finished and need to gather my thoughts (spoiler alert: lots of excited screaming)
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
In the Wake of the Ruined takes everything that made In the Veins of the Drowning unforgettable and drags it deeper into darker waters. The stakes are higher, the magic more grotesque, and the romance even more perilous.
Imogen Nel has fully stepped into her power. No longer hiding her monstrous Siren abilities, she has claimed her ancestral crown—and with it, a terrifying evolution of her magic. But the corrupted bond she shares with the ancient deity Eusia has only grown stronger. That connection feels invasive and predatory, like something always breathing down her neck. Imogen’s desperation to sever it drives the novel, especially as prophecy looms over her: is she destined to bring ruin… or rebirth?
Theodore, King of Varya, is equally compelling. The weight of his crown presses heavily on him, and his sense of duty is constantly at odds with his heart. When Imogen appears on his ship, the tension between them is immediate and electric. Their chemistry is undeniable, but it’s layered with political consequence, looming war, and the fear that loving her could mean the end of everything he swore to protect.
The shifting alliances and hunger for magic create a volatile backdrop, but it’s the emotional intensity that truly shines. Imogen’s struggle with her own monstrousness, Theodore’s battle between king and man, and the ever-present threat of Eusia weave together into a story that feels epic yet deeply intimate.
Imogen Nel has fully stepped into her power. No longer hiding her monstrous Siren abilities, she has claimed her ancestral crown—and with it, a terrifying evolution of her magic. But the corrupted bond she shares with the ancient deity Eusia has only grown stronger. That connection feels invasive and predatory, like something always breathing down her neck. Imogen’s desperation to sever it drives the novel, especially as prophecy looms over her: is she destined to bring ruin… or rebirth?
Theodore, King of Varya, is equally compelling. The weight of his crown presses heavily on him, and his sense of duty is constantly at odds with his heart. When Imogen appears on his ship, the tension between them is immediate and electric. Their chemistry is undeniable, but it’s layered with political consequence, looming war, and the fear that loving her could mean the end of everything he swore to protect.
The shifting alliances and hunger for magic create a volatile backdrop, but it’s the emotional intensity that truly shines. Imogen’s struggle with her own monstrousness, Theodore’s battle between king and man, and the ever-present threat of Eusia weave together into a story that feels epic yet deeply intimate.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
If I were Theo I would also go to great lengths to keep Imogen. Kalie Cassidy beautifully captures forbidden love and all of the delicious pining that goes with it. Theo is through and through a good man even when he’s bad -– and I am here morally principled Kings in my Romantasy. Imogen is once again a rockstar simply trying to survive by the skin of her teeth, wings, claws, and all. If this duology was a nutritional pyramid it would include court intrigue, politics, magic, and blood sacrifices with a sturdy base labeled ROMANCE. Cassidy is an illustrative writer who knows how to capture the pathetic cacoethes of love and attraction. I could have kept reading more from this series, but Cassidy gave her readers everything they needed in this final installment. I can’t wait to read what Kalie Cassidy puts out next!
Review of advance copy
If you loved book one, you’re going to lose your mind over IN THE WAKE!
Want to read
January 27, 2026need this NOWWWWW
Want to read
January 28, 2026Months after reading In the Veins of the Drowning, I'm still thinking about it. In the Wake needs to get here faster!!
February 17, 2026
Theo ❤️❤️❤️
Review of advance copy received from Author
Tied up all the questions from the first book! So happy to have received this arc from the author. Loved the story and the ending.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews