Ruined by Amy Tintera

Royalty and revenge stories are two things that will surely make my mouth water and Ruined is a glorious lovechild of the two. Emelina Flores, a “useless” princess of Ruina, is off to save her sister from the cages of Lera and earn the loyalty of her magical people, the Ruined. How? By posing as the princess of Vallos, Mary, who is betrothed to the crown prince of Lera, Casimir. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to grasp all the names eventually.

Pacing Characters

Despite the quite action-explosive exposition, Ruined prodded on with a slow beginning. The characters were all distant and seemingly forced as Em was instantly put into Mary’s heels. Literally. As they get more light of day, you get to know them better, slowly but surely. By them, I meant Em and Cas. I enjoyed the presence and personality of some supporting characters like Aren and Iria, and maybe even Jovita, but they were too transparent.

"Sympathy doesn't mean much if you don't take action."

Feelings, feelings, feelings.

What Ruined magic is used for this?

In all honesty, I love Em and Cas. I love their dynamic and the way they’re both so different (nature vs nurture) yet still alike and somewhat compatible. But we cannot deny their predictability. No spoilers here – their whole love story was more or less printed into the blurb.

Everybody pretty much knew they’re falling for each other when they were still figuring out what the words “feelings” mean. Seriously, I’d be rich if there’s a buck for every time “feelings” were mentioned. Their slow discovery brought a lot of tension between them that even though just-friends would probably work fine too, it was totally alright. Em and Cas’ banter and subtle moves made up for it.

Textbook Villain

Revenge means two sides to every story – two good guys and two bad guys. For Em, Cas’ father was the one. He was the murderer of all Ruined without any justification because it is what he believes is safe and right for his people, his kingdom, yada yada yada. And that’s where everything went generic and fell through.

The King was perceived as the “cool king”, all smiles and parties. He only gets furious when suddenly questioned by his own son. Now where did I see that before? Much like his wife, they lack fleshing out, so their actions seemed disconnected and odd, especially with their role as King and Queen of Lera.

"You did what you had to do," Cas said.  

"I did what I chose to do." ...

"Then choose better next time." 

A little fixer upper.

Ruined was no close to perfect. It had its flaws of unanswered pivotal questions and kingdoms of flat characters. A bit more world building would probably construct the scene further. I did enjoy reading it, however, with its light dialogue and gay Galo and all the normalcy of killing people. And all the feelings. The ending had me by the collar and it will be an anticipation filled wait for the sequel.

[ENDING SPOILERS] 

It's really not nice to meet you, Olivia.

There weren’t enough flashbacks to describe Olivia except for the fact that she’s Em’s younger sister taken away for no given reason. I also don’t know what she’s truly capable of – is it healing or twisting people’s bodies??? (Actually, the whole population of Ruined was a giant question mark. What did Wenda Flores do to Lera? Where do the Ruined powers come from? What are the Ruined powers specifically? Why are all these important questions not addressed? Seriously, we need a Ruined history book.)

Having not known much about Olivia, helped her sudden evil backlash at the end both positively and negatively.

Bad news first: Nothing was previously explained about Em’s dear sister so she was basically like an orange dropped into a basket of apples and was meant to blend in. We didn’t even know why she was taken in the first place and why she’s kept alive and where she learned to apparently be a “stronger” Ruined. Like what? the? fuck? is? going? on?

Good news: Nothing was previously explained about Em’s dear sister so her destructive explosion was a surprise shower of fireworks and blood. It was truly unpredictable. A small part of me expected her to go crazy from being caged up but not go on a killing spree with a better Ruined metabolism. That literal heart-wrenching moment though, that scene was the source of my joy (aside from the Cas and Em with Iria included moments).

I love dark endings and this one ends with a cliffhanger, too. I can’t wait to see how even more adorably awkward and hilariously complicated Cas and Em’s relationship will be. Plus, Galo’s love story. He deserves a goddamn novella.