Liam's Reviews > Ruin

“Family. Friendship. Loyalty. These things have been my guiding stars, my light in these dark times.”

A Full Five Stars: ✰✰✰✰✰

Full review is up =]. Sorry if it's long... I tend to ramble when it's a book I love ;].

Either somebody is not marketing these books correctly, or 99% of the world has horrible taste in books. These books NEED to be read by more people haha.

As I'm writing this review, I literally can't help but wonder how it's possible that these books aren't more outrageously popular than they are, especially in comparison with the normal Fantasy-fare that is so common these days. I was fortunate enough to be in circles where these books gained traction, but mention these to the average fantasy reader, and they won't know what you're talking about. If you look up "Ruin" in the Goodreads search engine, this book doesn't even come up until the fourth page. Not the fourth result.... The fourth PAGE. The first three pages are occupied almost entirely by cheap romance novels, as well as some YA Fantasies that have gained popularity.

This bothers me a lot. It doesn't bother me because these books are just "good". It's not even that they're "great". It bothers be because they are among the best books I have ever read (if you've followed me for awhile, I do NOT say that lightly. And I don't give out five star ratings lightly, either). While these books have a relatively small following, other books that are quite literally trash will keep flying off the shelves. I'm literally going to beat everybody I know over the head with these books until they read them haha.

If you want to hear other specifics about why I have personally loved these books, feel free to check out my reviews of Malice and Valor. Everything I said on those reviews I could repeat in this one, because Gwynne's writing has been super consistent throughout. However, there are a few things worth noting about this book in particular.

The POVs:

Often in a book with a huge cast of characters like this one, two things tend to happen. Either the characters lose their individuality, and blend together due to poor personality development. Or else the characters lack any dynamic qualities and never change in spite of the story that is being told.

Something that makes this series so good (and this book did an exceptionally good job in this regard) is that each character is not only fully developed in the sense of their own stories and personalities, but they also have drastically changed with each installment. I don't even want to mention names, because A LOT of people die in this series, and even mentioning a name can be a spoiler ;]. But two characters in particular [(view spoiler)[Maquin and Camlin (hide spoiler)]] have such unique story arcs in that by the end of this book, they are literally completely different people from the ones we met in book one. Good guys at the start of the series have become bad guys. Some of the bad guys have become good guys. Some of the characters who were just "in between" have had their lives shaped to become truly loyal people.

To do this successful is both VERY rare and VERY difficult. We've all watched a Disney movie where a character has a complete spontaneous "change of heart", and unless you're five years old, you know that just doesn't happen. Gwynne takes his time and gradually lays out these events, giving us characters who are as real as they get.

The Story:

This series is definitely magic-light, and the world-building is of a more simple variety. At first glance, even the story might seem like something you've read before, but I promise you that there is much more than meets the eye.

This book in particular had some HUGE developments that more than sold me on John Gwynne's skill as a writer and a storyteller, because he doesn't just write one story. Really, he actually writes six or seven stories, from all different perspectives, and then bridges the gaps and connects them in a way that they all contribute towards the much larger story of the God-War. It's quite good. This book left me moving back and forth between elation, shock, sadness, and even disgust, as some elements of Gwynne's writing are definitely not for the faint of heart.

Overall:

I have more to say, but I'll save it for when I finish Wrath =]. One thing that is worth mentioning though is that these books might not suit everybody's tastes. It was perfect for me, but everybody is different, and sometimes even the mood that we're in can affect our opinion on a book. If you aren't sure, I highly recommend giving Malice a shot. Be patient with it, and read it through to the end. If you enjoy that book, I promise that there are only better things to come in this series, as each installment has only gotten better. I can't wait to finish Wrath!

Happy reading =].

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Don't have time to post a full review right now, but basically my experience with the book went like this:

0-25%:


25-50%:


50-75%:


75-100%:


This series will take you on a ride like you've never had before. Seriously an amazing third installment, and a perfect conclusion to my 2017 Reading Year. A more cohesive and thought-out review will come by Tuesday =].