4.25⭐

This book perfectly wrapped up the Nightmare Quartet series and definitely was a roller coaster ride while reading! I loved being back int his work with Zarya and Rabin, and we can't forget about Yasen either! This picked up right where the last book left off and I loved seeing how our favorite characters grew even more in this story. Nisha gave us several twists and had me panicking a few times as well, but I loved every minute! The ending was everything I could have wanted for them and I highly recommend this series if you want romantasy with an amazing plot an delicious spice!

What to expect:
-Dragon shifter
-Found family
-Unique magic
-Touch her and die

Thank you Nisha and her team, Second Sky Books, and NetGalley for letting me read and review an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions!

Queen of Shadows and Ruin by Nisha J. Tuli is the fourth and final book in her Nightfire Quartet. The story picks up with Zarya and Rabin seeking answers and solutions from her father Raja Abishek. It seems too good to be true but Zarya trusts Rabin and his faith in her father. However as time progresses it becomes clear that things aren’t what they seem and Zarya is put into a difficult situation where she must sacrifice a lot to save the ones she loves.

Wow. What an ending to this quartet! It’s full of personal growth, relationship development, and action. The last bit of the book is basically an extended love letter to all of the characters and the relationships that have developed over the four books, showing that found family is so so important.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for granting me a complimentary advanced reader copy of the ebook. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and based off of this draft; the final publication may be different. Expected publication date is March 6, 2025.

A review for Queen of Shadows and Ruin (The Nightfire Quartet Book 4) by Nisha J. Tuli. A Romantasy adventure!

I really enjoyed the conclusion to this series. My favorite parts were the characters and world building. The world is magical, exotic, and rich with South Asian Mythology. I became emotionally attached to multiple characters and was fully invested in their growth, especially Yas, Zarya, and Rabin. Yas will always be first in my book.

I appreciate authors making their characters vulnerable and growing strong. Zarya is a spitfire but she is very naive in some ways and as an orphan who craves parental love she has to open herself up for more potential heartbreak. This journey of getting to know her father with Rabin and Yas at her side was emotional. Yas, even faced his own emotional vulnerabilities!

The book was concluded neatly with all the boxes checked and questions answered. Leaving an imprint in my mind of this magical place.

I would recommend this book to my romantic fantasy loving friends who enjoy a good villain monologue but need a HEA! Considering the smut I would put it at 16+. Nisha hooked me with her Artefacts of Ouranos Series and I am now an addict for anything she writes.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Queen of Shadows and Ruin is the final book in Nisha J. Tuli’s The Nightfire Quartet, a romantasy inspired by South Asian (Indian) mythology. This was a beautiful and captivating conclusion that kept me hooked from start to finish.

This book was a stunning conclusion to an incredible series! Nisha J. Tuli’s writing keeps getting better, and this final installment was filled with so many emotional moments. I absolutely loved Yasen and his friendship with Zarya—it was one of my favorite aspects of the book. Their bond felt so real and deep, and I appreciated how much they supported each other.

Zarya herself has grown so much over the series, transforming from a timid, lonely girl into a fierce and resilient FMC. Her journey has been incredible to watch, and I was completely invested in her fate. Zarya and Rabin endure so much in this book, but their love, faith, and trust carry them through it all. Watching them find solace in each other, finally knowing they’re not alone, was truly beautiful. After everything they’ve been through, they finally have someone to lean on, and I couldn’t be happier for them. That said, my heart ached for Rabin—his entire world was turned upside down, and he didn’t deserve any of it.

This book was filled with shocking twists, betrayals, and deep emotions. I especially loved the found family aspect—seeing these characters come together and support each other made the story even more powerful.
The ending was perfect, and I know this series will stay with me for a long time. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves strong heroines, unique magic, and heartwarming found family dynamics!

Suuuuuch a good conclusion to this series. The balance of fantasy and romance, action and spice was once again brilliant. Definitely recommend this book and the rest of the series

Queen of Shadows and Ruin is the perfect conclusion to The Nightfire Quartet. It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I couldn’t put it down and stayed up late to finish it in one day. Zarya had so much character growth in this book. The pacing of this book is so intentional. The pacing in the first half of the book is intentionally slower to get the reader to a place where they start to let their guard down and feel comfortable, only to change it up in the second half and throw you into a gauntlet of emotions.

As a reader based in the U.S., Nisha’s book releases during a time of political turmoil in the U.S and it is adds an additional layer of emotions as you draw the parallels between the oppressed and the oppressors in the book and the oppressed and oppressors out here in the real world. In the same vein, this book also offers a glimpse at what could be when people ban together to defeat evil.

Queen of Shadows and Ruin is a 5 star read for me, and I am very thankful to Second Sky Books and Nisha J. Tuli for allowing me the opportunity to read this eARC.

Thank you, Second Sky and Nisha J Tuli, for the opportunity to read this ARC! The following thoughts are my own.

Book 4 of the Nightfire Quartet saw the conclusion of Zarya and Rabin's story with many twists, turns, and, of course, broody dragon shifters!

I love Zarya and Rabin as a couple and enjoyed their journeys (together and apart) since Book One.

Read the Nightfire Quartet if you like:

💙South Asian vibes
💛Magic
💙Intricate world building
💛Dragon shifters
💙Found family
💛Court Politics
💙Fate

Happy Reading 📚

Queen of Shadows and Ruin is the final fourth book in the Nightfire Quartet series, releasing 6th March 2025 by Nisha J Tuli.
ARC Review

Phenomenal!!! 5 star read⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A beautiful, ruthless, spicy, addictive romantasy and final conclusion to the Nightfire Quartet series.

“She will be the one to free them all”

‘’I will protect you with every breath in my body”

I highly recommend for all readers of romantasy, immersive, vivid world building and spicy, enemies-to-lovers romance books.

Thank you to the author Nisha J. Tuli, publisher @secondskybooks and NetGalley for sending me the eARC book. I’m so excited to read this and continue with Zarya’s story to free the enslaved Vanshaj people. Make yourself a cup of chai and bring snacks because you will not be able to put this book down.

The story continues with Rabin convincing Zarya to finally meet with her father, the mysterious King Abishek in the northern winter mountains of Andhera and they travel to the black marble palace.

With Zarya’s sixth sense and dark ribbons of black magic she seeks to find answers from Abishek and finding out why her paramadhar mating bond with Rabin seems to be fading in Andhera. Zarya is also having vivid dreams and visions of her mother, Asha the Queen of G’iana.

The first half of the book was focused on the word building of Andhera and there were also new characters introduced to the story. The story picked up half way through and started to unravel and then became a thrilling, emotional rollercoaster of a journey. I loved Yasen’s banter and Rows character and the family relationship they had with Zarya.

The world building in this book was immersive and beautifully written and I loved the way the author described the world and people of Andhera, the snow, frozen mountains, castle and King Abishek’s kingdom. The author has a beautiful way of writing descriptive, metaphorical, immersive, vivid worlds/realms inspired by Indian mythology and culture.

This book has:

✨Rebellion action & adventure
✨Political Intrigue
✨Dark magic
✨Dragon shifting MMC
✨Found family & friendships
✨Spice 🌶️🌶️🌶️
✨Unique magic system
✨Prophecies
✨Mating bond
✨Betrayal

The fourth and final book of this series has a perfect balance of a ruthless, engaging, compelling story, with spice and unique magic system and will have you hooked.

The ending was so beautiful, emotional, heartwarming and a thrilling rollercoaster of emotions and I cried tears of joy. I wish there was more to read as I don’t think I’m ready to let this series go…

The pacing of this book started off a little slow up until the half way point. The plot was a bit repetitive and didn't really make much progress on the action. Then at the half way point we were off to the races! Action started with a raiders of the lost ark style chase/quest, then a faceoff with the main villain - which wrapped up in less than a chapter. While the fast closure helped to ease the readers' anxiety - it did feel a little anti-climatic after being through the whole saga of the first three books. Then the last 10% of the book was really a love letter to readers. It wrapped up so many threads woven throughout the series without being a "the end" and then epilogue. It allowed each character arc to get closure, and offer some "ending" to each open question. I'm rating as a 4 only because the pacing but standing ovation to the those that love a complete series and a bit of closure.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
*Queen of Shadows and Ruin* was an absolute thrill from start to finish! The action was intense and perfectly paced, keeping me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The character development was phenomenal, with Zarya and Rabin’s journey being the highlight of the book. Their arc was so well-written and satisfying—I loved how their story wrapped up! This book delivered everything I hoped for and more. A must-read for fantasy fans!

THIS SERIES IS AMAZING I cannot handle how this author makes you care about characters and her wonderful balance of people, romance and fantasy elements

this series is by far one of the best series Nisha has written. it keeps you on your toes with the suspense, and i seriously binged it in less than a few days.

I mean, what else is there to say? This series is so good, Nisha J Tuli is so good, she's my auto buy for life. I know her other series gets a ton of hype (and rightfully so! I loved that series too), this one is almost better and has so much less attention! We need to hype this series up just as much because it's so unique, it's doing things no other romantasy book does. The world is so big, I love how many different types of magic there are in this world. More than most romantasy authors, Nisha is so good at putting so much historical lore to her characters and worlds. I love how she ties in the events of hundreds of years ago to things happening today. I love the Eastern Asian mythology. I love the CLOTHING! We need more kurta's in romantasy.

Nisha - never stop writing books, even if it's just for me :)

Thank you Secondsky books, netgally and Nisha j tuli for this book.

I said that it would be a hell of a ride. But I didn't know it would be more than that.

*spoilers below*

The most intense book I've read. And it kept me on the edge. Really loved the storyline, the world building. It was really good.

Zarya and Rabin's journey was really rough and had so much going on that they only found peace at the end.

The betrayal was very bad, plus zarya finding her mother, the hidden city, the war, all that made the book even more exciting with the secrets being revealed, all that with things that needed to be mended amongst their own.

But I'm glad the end turned out to be the best. I loved this series a lot. Thank you for making a wonderful series.

This book… yall this book was filled with so much magic, betrayal, heartbreak, strength, love, joy; it was like the best rollercoaster of emotions. It was the perfect ending to the Nightfire quartet and I am so thankful I had the chance to read it early! This series cures every ACOTAR/TOG/Fourth Wing hangover I’ve had. 10/10 would recommend.

It's official, Nisha J. Tuli is the Queen of captivating, spicy, romantasy!
"Queen of Shadows and Ruin" is the fourth book in the exciting and spicy "The Nightfire Quartet" and while you could dive in at this stage, I would recommend that you start with book one, "Heart of Night and Fire", followed by "Dance of Stars and Ashes", and then "Storm of Ink and Blood". Why? Well, you don't want to miss out on the completely epic adventure and romance.
As the principal storyline has been well-established by book, we dive right into the action and this does not let up throughout the book, from travelling by dragon, to snatched moments between lovers, "Queen of Shadows and Ruin" is the perfect ending to this quartet.
Five stars, in fact all the stars!!

Absolutely loved this ending to the Nightfire Quartet! Nisha delivered with this final instalment which found Zarya and Rabin fighting for their lives and for freedom for the vanshaj against dark forces across the continent. All our favourites were back including Yasen whose personal story we get to see unfold. I loved how all the pieces came together and our MCs got the HEA they deserved.

What an amazing end to such a fantastic series. As always, Nisha has blown me away. Submersing me in a culture I have zero clues about but in a way that keeps me interested instead of zoning out, and wanting to learn more. Her attention to detail is flawless and the writing keeps you hooked in, gobbling it up as fast as you can. The adventure is top notch, and kept me guessing for the longest time. I’ve read other books recently that the twists legit angered me, but Nisha’s floor me with her intelligence and creativity. Raja in particular, is he the evil tyrant everyone says, or misunderstood and misrepresented?? I couldn’t wait to find out!
The characters journeys held me captive from beginning to end, the growth of Zarya is perfect and inspiring. Yasen POV in this book was a great addition and his story also touched me. The connection with her biological brother in addition to growing her found family gives you all the feels. The grumpy/sunshine also never fails to amuse me, though I feel Zee was finally starting to rub off on Rabin more in this one.
I will forever immediately read anything Nisha puts out, getting my hands on this ARC was perfect for my onyx storm hangover. Cannot recommend this series or her as an author enough. Can’t wait to see what’s next now that this and Ouranos are done! Hopefully a follow up on to wake a kingdom.

The first book I read by Nisha was a Heart of Night and Fire. Since then I have gone on to read every other book Nisha has written and it was a honour to get the Arc for the final instalment of the Nightfire Quartet.

This book was the perfect end to the story of a young girl fighting for love, family and freedom. The way Nisha gets you to be truly invested in all the different friendships and relationships is a feat to her skills. This was a rollercoaster of emotions and I feel that Nisha has given all of the characters the ending they deserved.

Damn this one was stressful! The tension builds and builds - you KNOW something is wrong, maybe even have a pretty good idea of what it is, but Nisha makes you wait and sweat before finally snapping and catapulting into a doozy of a final battle that carries on for much of the second half of the book.

The emotional connections our various cast of characters have been building all get to stretch and play in this one. And Yasen finally gets his own POV, which is delightful and one of the only sources of humor to be found as the stakes get so dire.

Rating: 4.5/5
Spice: 3/5

Tropes:
- Elemental magic
- Dragon shifter
- Chosen one
- Possessive morally grey MMC
- FMC with shadow powers
- “My wife”
- Found family
- Deadly magical creatures
- Tear down the system
- Multi POV
- Indian-inspired world

Thank you to Second Sky and NetGalley for the chance to read an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.