Melodies of the Damned ♥ Nakita Kirwan ♥ Crowns of Gods and Monsters #1

Published February 2026 ♥ Independently Published by Nakita Kirwan

For the people worried about what the world will think.
Stop hiding.
If the world can’t handle you…
Find the monster who’d burn the world with you,
and fuck you senseless in the ashes.

Trigger Warnings : Violence, Abuse, Explicit sexual content, Death, Drowning, Mention of rape, Torture, PTSD, Panic attacks, Suicidal ideation, Self-harm, Psychological trauma, Abuse of trust, Panic attacks, Dubious consent, Possessive behavior, Captivity/Captor, Sacrificing, Blood play, & Loss of self

❥ Romantasy

❥ Sirens, Fae, Gods & Goddesses

❥ Forced Proximity

❥ One Horse

❥ Prophecy

❥ Captor/Captive

❥ Enemies to Lovers

❥ Forbidden Romance

Little Drownling

There I was, minding my own business, doom scrolling my little dark heart out when I stumbled across an arc readers wanted post for Melodies of the Damned. I was instantly enamored by the title, and the cover. I am a slut for a good cover/title combo. Then the tropes hit my soul like a sack of bricks and I knew I needed to read it.

I received a digital copy of Melodies of the Damned in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions. As always, that’s what you get here, advanced copy or not.

Spoilers Sweetie. Jump down to my Final Thoughts to avoid any possible spoilers.

1. I love the artwork. 
2. Ew. The Viscount. Ew. 
3. Don’t like the King either. 
4. Beatings and bloodlettings. These guys need to burn. 
5. Damn girl.
6. Dreya seems too invested in Lyra jumping. 
7. What pieces?!
8. I need to know more about Riven. 
9. I’m not sure I like Dreya. 
10. Riven knows things. 
11. One piece down. 
12. Girl get outta there. Now. 
13. And what he wanted was you my dear Lyra. 
14. Girl! Not just whatever he asks!
15. Dish the dirt Solas. 
16. Bud she doesn’t know nothing. 
17. That’s some venom. 
18. This guy is definitely the prince. 
19. Girl, that’s definitely Riven. 
20. Cuz you’re not fucking mortal. 
21. You are the Sea Goddess. Get with the program. 
22. Oh you know what he looks like !!
23. There it is.
24. Who are you Riven? H????
25. Not the fucking priest. 
26. Excuse me. What the fuck. 
27. I suspected co-conspirator number one. But never in my wildest did I suspect co-conspirator number two. 

Melodies of the Damned by Nakita Kirwan Review

Minor Spoilers

Once, I had read that love makes a person whole, and in its absence, evil grows. Perhaps that was why darkness churned beneath my skin like the tides battering the cliffs below.

Melodies of the Damned is a dark romantasy from debut author Nakita Kirwan and its one of the best things I have read this year. It is a single pov story told from the perspective of mortal princess Lyra Meridian. I loved Lyra. I thought she was a fantastic fmc. She’s not not a spoiled ignorant brat of a princess. No, this princess has been tortured and abused her entire life. So much so in fact, she runs away, right into some cursed water that has a 50/50 chance of killing her. And that’s exactly what Lyra wants, death.

I was an ornament, meant to gleam, not to speak.

Once the home to the beloved sirens of the Sea Goddess, anyone who enters the Dead Sea’s black waters either dies, or is granted powers and joins the Iron Guard. Much to Lyra’s surprise, she survives and quickly discovers the true purpose of the Iron Guard. Hunt down and destroy the three soul relics of the Sea Goddess in hopes of gaining favor from the gods that abandoned them. The Sea Goddess must not return, for her love of a mortal cursed them all.

The prophecy says the Sea Goddess will rise again, that she will drown the world for killing her Sirens and kill the Gods themselves for taking her lover.

Enter the Commander of Death. Like a thief in the night he steals Lyra away and opens her eyes to the truth of her reality. Her whole life she’s been told the Gods abandoned her people. That the Fae were the real enemy. The Sea Goddess had been the downfall of them all. And like all good propaganda, the lies took root, spreading among the Mortal Kingdom like a plague. I’ll never understand those who believe books are not political.

The Sea Goddess loved the living. Fae, Mortal, even demons. She walked among them, defying the King of Gods, Helion. Her husband.

I loved the world Kirwan created. The history of the mortals, gods and fae was intriguing. The addition of the sirens spoke to my soul. They are one of my favorite mythical creatures. In a world filled with dragons, be a vicious man eating siren instead. In my experience, sirens are rare to come across in fantasy and even rarer to be a main focus. Never mind the spice, that alone had me salivating and frothing at the mouth.

Something inside my very soul snapped into place, a tether. Like a puzzle piece clicking into place. A silver thread that wrapped around my very essence that connected me to him.

Melodies of the Damned is a story of love and betrayal and it is very quickly paced, which I appreciated. As someone with aphantasia, I tire of paragraphs describing trees, clouds, the color of someones hair, or what their tattoos look like. That information is basically useless to me. I’m there for the plot and this plot has one hell of a twist ending. I cannot wait for the second book in this duology to be released. For a debut release, Melodies of the Damned was amazing.

I once believed the absence of love created evil.
I was wrong.
It was betrayal

❥ Nakita Kirwan : Instagram ♥ TikTok

❥ Purchase : Amazon ♥ Barnes&Noble