Ruinsong

Ruinsong is a young adult fantasy novel by Julia Ember, published in 2020 and set in a kingdom where magic is worked by singing and political power belongs to whoever sings it best.

Cadence is a mage whose voice has been turned into an instrument of the crown. Her queen uses her to torture nobles who have fallen out of favour, and her talent is the reason she cannot simply leave, because a singer that useful is never allowed to go. The return of a woman she knew as a child complicates the arrangement, since her old friend has ties to the underground movement that wants the queen removed. Cadence has to decide whether to keep serving the ruler who has made her a weapon or to stand against her, and she is genuinely gifted, genuinely frightened and almost entirely alone inside the palace.

The novel is a dark fantasy of loyalty and coercion with a romance at its centre, and its magic system makes every song an act with consequences for somebody. It is a standalone story about what it costs to stop being useful to a person in power.