In the Wake of the Ruined: characters, spice, triggers & review
In the Wake of the Ruined by Kalie Cassidy is part two of The Siren Mage series, a gothic fantasy romance duology, with sirens including undead sirens, gods, goddesses and atmospheric seascapes.
In this guide, I’m covering everything you want to know: synopsis, In the Wake of the Ruined characters and supporting characters, a recap of the Gods and Goddesses and their powers, spice levels, which chapters to find those spicy chapters, trigger warnings, tropes and other bits and pieces.
Please be sure to note that the character guide and FAQ section down the bottom will contain spoilers, so this is your sign to avoid reading if you haven’t read In the Wake of the Ruined yet.
In the Wake of the Ruined synopsis.
The 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?
In the Wake of the Ruined characters.
In the Wake of the Ruined is narrated from a first person point of view, from two perspectives:
Queen Imogen Nel; and
King Theodore Ariti.
Need a character recap on who's who? Here is a quick intro to Imogen/Immy and Theodore/Theo, followed by a list of In the Wake of the Ruined characters we meet or meet again.
Imogen Nel.
Imogen Nel isn’t in a very great state since we last saw her In the Veins of the Drowning. I guess besides coming to grips with committing both regicide and patricide, and then also having been stabbed in the guts lethally, but then magically kept alive via kelp and sand—I think?—she’s in fairly dire straits. Poor Immy. Anyway, we start off In the Wake of the Ruined with a clear mission: Find and save Agatha.
King Theodore Ariti.
King Theo and our yearniest of the yearny book boyfriends, isn’t doing too great either. He’s going ahead with a wedding to Princess Halla, unfortunately for all parties involved, seeing as he’s doing it for political reasons, not for, you know, love.
All main and supporting characters in In the Wake of the Ruined.
Here’s a list of major and major supporting characters in In the Wake of the Ruined.
⚠️ WARNING: This character guide will 100% definitely spoil the events of In the Veins of the Drowning, book one of The Siren Mage duology, by Kalie Cassidy. Read at your own risk, or feel free to spoil yourself as I'm not the boss of your life choices.⚠️
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| Queen Imogen "Immy" Nel: FMC |
The female main character (FMC) and a siren raised as King Nemea's ward, but in reality, in the previous book Imogen found out she is the daughter of the sea goddess Ligea and King Nemea, making her a demigoddess with pretty fascinating powers involving the sea.
In the ending of In the Veins of the Drowning (book 1), she gets stabbed in the guts but her dad King Nemea, who then in a weird twist of morals tries to save her when he realises her mother Ligea is still alive. Consequently, Immy kills him, inherits Ligea's crown, and then saves herself from certain death at the cost of binding herself to Eusia with a strange spell involving kelp and sand holding her innards intact. Yikes. So that’s where In the Wake of the Ruined, book 2 picks up from. |
| King Theodore "Theo" Ariti: MMC | King Theo is the King of Varya and the main male character (MMC). He comes off as quite stoic but as we found out in The Veins of the Drowning, he’s kind, honorable, compassionate and burdened by kingly duty. At the end of the first book, he believes Imogen has died after confronting Nemea and Eusia, leaving him heartbroken, and doing his kingly duty to a loveless arranged political marriage to Princess Halla. |
| Princess Halla |
Daughter of Empress Nivala. She plays a diplomatic role in negotiations between kingdoms and becomes involved in political alliances created by the growing undead threat.
Unfortunately, her toxic Empress mother has been using Halla’s blood to sacrifice to Eusia since she was born, so Halla’s got lots of issues with the way she’s been raised. |
| Agatha |
Agatha is Imogen’s prior governess and is a blend of a sisterly and motherly figure to her, with only an age gap of 10 years apart. She’s her closest confidante and one of the few people who truly loves her.
Agatha is also a siren herself and has spent years protecting Immy from Nemea. We commence the events of book two with Immy on a critical mission to find and save Agatha, who has been taken by Empress Nivala, to give to Eusia. |
| Commander Lachlan Mela | Lachlan is Theo's trusted commander and closest military ally, helping coordinate Varya's defence against the nekgya (kind of like undead sirens) threat and supports Theo. Him and Agatha were past lovers and follow a second chance romance background minor sub-plot. |
| Eusia | Eusia is the biggest antagonist. Once associated with the sea, Eusia is Ligea’s less powerful sister and has become a corrupt, undead water deity whose influence creates drowned monsters and spreads decay across the oceans. Theo's mission is to destroy Eusia and the nekgya threat. However, at the end of book one, Immy ultimately becomes magically bound to Eusia in a bid to save her life. Which is not ideal, because now she has to unbind from her and it’s quite the deathly quest. |
| Empress Nivala | Ruler of a neighbouring empire. Politically calculating and a terribly toxic mother to Halla, Nivala is in cahoots with Eusia. We start off book two with the information that Nivala has taken Agatha to give to Eusia, to sustain this undead water deity. |
| Captain Aleka Baros | Theodore’s marshal who is free of judgement, measured and brimming with curiosity about Imogen. |
| Steward Markis Gabros | A steward on Theo’s council. Loyal but sly with an air of artful cunning about him and a quick enough mind to ensure he almost always gets his way. |
Minor supporting characters.
Here is a list of all further on-page minor supporting characters and the occasional off-page character mentions.
| Character name | Description |
|---|---|
| Chancellor Eftan | One of Theo’s scheming chancellors of Varya who holds great sway over the council, involved in the military campaign against Eusia. He fights to seize power and control over Varya, motivated by faithful duty to the kingdom. He’s a bit of a jerk to Imogen so we don’t like him and he becomes even more jerkier and murdery in In the Wake of the Ruined. |
| Hector and Antonia |
Hector and Antonia are an elderly couple of caretakers who live near the sea. In In the Veins of the Drowning, book 1, they provided rest, respite and a place to recover for Theo, after Imogen and Theo visited the Mage Seer.
Hector and Antonia knew Theo before that though, when they helped him survive from magical poisoning, after his father, King Aftan, transferred his power to Theo and died, in a ritual with the Mage Seer. |
| Captain Doxa | Doxa has been captaining vessels for longer than any other Varian in the fleet and has never lost a battle, nor kowtowed to Theo’s father and considers herself one of Leucosia’s greatest authority on the state of its waters. |
| Healer Carras | One of King Theo’s healers, who helps heal Imogen’s festering wound she acquired when her father, King Nemea stabbed her. They can only do so much to heal Imogen though, as her stab wound is magical and needs the powers of a deity i.e. Theo’s. |
| King Nemea (mentioned) |
Initially presented as Immy's adoptive guardian and the ruthless king of Seraf who loathes and executes sirens. In reality he is Immy's biological father, having conceived her with Ligea. His hatred of sirens stems from fear, obsession with power and his relationship with Ligea. He manipulates Immy her entire life, gives her blood to Eusia, isolates her, and attempts to control her immense power. In the climax of book one, Immy kills him, ending his reign. Bye Felicia! |
| Rohana, the Mage Seer (mentioned) |
A powerful mage and seer who guides Theo and Immy. Her visions reveal pieces of the future, though never the full picture. She understands more about Immy's destiny than she initially shares and helps prepare the protagonists for the confrontation with Eusia. |
| King Athan (mentioned) |
Theo's deceased father and the former King of Varya. Although dead before the story begins, his failures shaped Theo's worldview. Theo constantly measures himself against Athan's mistakes, fuelling his belief that a king must always put duty before personal desire. |
Review: In the Wake of the Ruined by Kalie Cassidy.
View my review and follow me on GoodReads here.
Spice level: 🌶🌶 - 2 out of 5 chillies, open-door, non-explicit spice in several chapters.
The way Theo is so stoic and so utterly burdened with governing a kingdom yet so unequivocally down bad for Immy throughout the entirety of this duology has just gotta be one my favourite studies in how to yearn and yearn good.
The second book in this duology gives us chapters from his POV and it really adds so much more depth and tension to the storytelling to be able to climb inside his head and see his angst over duty vs desire and alternate between him and Imogen as they mutually pine for one another.
I think what I appreciated most is that the yearning-pining-conflict has no basis in Theo being unable to communicate his feelings. He’s an open book and I love that. I’m not sure about other readers but about 90% of my annotations and highlights are Theo’s declarations. I stand by that he gives Darcy.
Speaking of Immy, I remember reading somewhere that author Kalie Cassidy has spoken about navigating her own identity as someone who is biracial and her exploration of belonging (I found the source here, if anyone wants it), and I feel like it really came through beautifully and poignantly in Immy's character and her struggles of what it means to belong as a "monster", (plus other identities and duties she’s grappling with) and her feelings on acceptance and love.
That exploration of identity also flows on to the supporting characters, particularly Halla. I’m not saying I particularly “like” Halla as a character, but I will say that I find her characterisation quite fascinating and the way I even had empathy for her is something that I think Cassidy executed really well. I liked that Halla was afforded grace and complexity, motivations, history and her own complicated view of the world around her.
This is gothic fantasy romance with some mild horror elements done quite dare I say perfectly to my liking in terms of the balance of fantasy to romance to plot and characterisation. Keep in mind it also has some pretty heavy and gnarly themes so be mindful of content warnings such as: grief, trauma, abuse, really catastrophic parenting choices and more. (I’ll add a full list soon).
The way this duology concluded was beautifully wrapped up to my satisfaction and my heart was happy. A very good message and sentiment too.
Recommend for people who like gothic fantasy romance/romantasy with zombie sirens, siren lore inspired by Greek mythology and something like mild mermaid-adjacent horror.
Going on my fave duologies list!
1. In the Veins of the Drowning: ★★★★★
2. In the Wake of the Ruined: ★★★★★
View my In the Wake of the Ruined review and follow me on GoodReads here. I chat about books a lot.
In the Wake of the Ruined FAQs.
SPOILER ALERT:
Some answers WILL spoil In the Veins of the Drowning & In the Wake of the Ruined if you haven’t read either already. Proceed with caution.
Is In the Wake of the Ruined a series?
Yes, In the Wake of the Ruined is book two in The Siren Mage series, by author, Kalie Cassidy. Book one is titled “In the Veins of the Drowning”.
What are the content and trigger warnings?
Violence
Blood
Sexual content
Death
Gaslighting
Injury and injury details
Cursing
Body horror
Death of parent
Assisted euthanasia
Animal cruelty (testing magic on rats)
Animal death (rats)
War
Abuse
Coercion
Religious cult-like fanaticism
Toxic family relationships and dynamics
Suicide (off-page)
Torture
What are the tropes for In the Wake of the Ruined?
Slow burn romance ❤️🔥
Morally grey characters 🖤
Forced proximity
Hurt / comfort
Forbidden love
Political intrigue
Monsters and gods
Duty vs desire
Yearning
What is the age rating for In the Wake of the Ruined?
In the Wake of the Ruined is classified as adult, so ages 18+, due to adult themes and sexual content. Please also see the trigger and content warnings listed above.
Is In the Wake of the Ruined spicy?
Yes In the Wake of the Ruined is spicy with open door scenes in several chapters, however, the language used isn’t explicitly detailed.
What is the In the Wake of the Ruined spice level?
Spice level: 🌶🌶
2/5, detailed open door, but non-explicit spice in several chapters.
What are the In the Wake of the Ruined spicy chapters?
Find the In the Wake of the Ruined spicy chapters below, as well as their heat rating.
Chapter 28: 🌶
Chapter 23: 🌶
26: 🌶
29: 🌶🌶
38: 🌶
In the Wake of the Ruined spoilers
Alright, some of you love to spoil yourselves and I get it. So I’ve listed a few of the In the Wake of the Ruined spoilers and revelations for you below that stood out to me when I was reading it.
Spoiler warning, again, obviously.
1. Princess Halla is Imogen’s half sister.
Empress Nivala and King Nemea were united in their cause and faith to Eusia and Empress Nivala intended to offer the baby Halla to Eusia. Eusia rejected the sacrifice because Halla didn’t have divine blood. Nivala continued to ritually sacrifice Princess Halla’s blood to Eusia as she grew up, in a similar way to how King Nemea gave Imogen’s divine blood as a gift to Eusia. Toxic parenting at its finest.
2. Eusia keeps Ligea, Imogen’s goddess mother, drained of power, barely alive.
Imogen goes through the traumatic experience of having to kill her own mother, Ligea, who was barely alive, and remove her as a source of power for Eusia. This is what the prophecy meant when it said '“The queen lies drained of her divinity.”
3. Princess Halla kills her own mother, Empress Nivala.
Turns out toxic parenting creates resentment.
4. Ending + epilogue: Theo annuls his marriage to Halla.
Between both Theo and Imogen, they steer their leadership of royal duties towards democracy rather monarchy (yay for democracy! No Kings) and make plans to settle down by the seaside in Varya, living the simple life, with Imogen using her goddess powers to help and heal her community.
Theo then proposes to Imogen, hurray! And that’s wonderful because they’ve now mostly resolved all their issues with politics and royal duties, undead sirens and quests. There is NO mommyjacking or pregnancy in the epilogue, so bonus points to the author! Just a good ol’ fashioned happily ever after (HEA).
Enjoyed reading In the Wake of the Ruined by Kalie Cassidy? You may also enjoy reading:
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig
The Wolf King | The Night Prince by Lauren Palphreyman
A Fate Inked in Blood | A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen
One Dark Window | Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig
