Ruined by Amy Tintera

Ruined
Ruined: Book One
Written by Amy Tintera
Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic
Published May 3rd 2016 by HarperTeen
ARC received for review
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★★★
A revenge that will consume her. A love that will ruin her.

Emelina Flores has nothing. Her home in Ruina has been ravaged by war. She lacks the powers of her fellow Ruined. Worst of all, she witnessed her parents’ brutal murders and watched helplessly as her sister, Olivia, was kidnapped.

But because Em has nothing, she has nothing to lose. Driven by a blind desire for revenge, Em sets off on a dangerous journey to the enemy kingdom of Lera. Somewhere within Lera’s borders, Em hopes to find Olivia. But in order to find her, Em must infiltrate the royal family.

In a brilliant, elaborate plan of deception and murder, Em marries Prince Casimir, next in line to take Lera’s throne. If anyone in Lera discovers Em is not Casimir’s true betrothed, Em will be executed on the spot. But it’s the only way to salvage Em’s kingdom and what is left of her family.

Em is determined to succeed, but the closer she gets to the prince, the more she questions her mission. Em’s rage-filled heart begins to soften. But with her life—and her family—on the line, love could be Em’s deadliest mistake.

Seeing as that is a very long synopsis and is self explanatory, I don't think that I'll have to add my own little tid bit so I think I'm just going to hop right into my review for this little beauty! There were some things that I REALLY enjoyed about Ruined, and some things that just tweaked me the wrong way so there's definitely a so-so feeling from me at the moment about this book.

Kynndra's Thoughts

The writing was good. I greatly enjoyed how easy it was to read Ruined. Amy Tintera has this way of making things simple - but kind of underdone. With fantasy sometimes authors can get way too complex, sometimes so complex that it detracts from the story. This was not the case. I could follow along quite easily, and the book flowed incredibly well which made for a quick read. There was no vast world or complex web of plots. It was very to the point, which amounted to weak worldbuilding, but has just enough to give readers a basic idea of the setting and history.

That being said, there could have been way more than what we're given. Yes, for once I slightly enjoyed not being bombarded with the history of *this* kingdom, and *these* people but in the same breath, I'm a sucker for a heavily painted world. And with Ruined we're given the bare minimum to be quite honest: an evil King decides to slaughter the Ruined (those who posses magical abilities). The Ruined queen has two daughters: one with powers, one without. The Ruined must flee while the magicless Princess must thwart the evil King, and save her sister. The book really revolved around only two Kingdoms: Lera and Ruina even though we're not told much about either.

"No one feared Emelina Flores, the useless daughter of the most powerful queen Ruina had ever known.
But they would."

Exciting plot, but little to no challenge for our main characters. Let's be honest, the plot sounds bad ass. A girl must go undercover, marry a prince, free her people and take down an evil royal family? Sign me the hell up, right? Or so I thought. I was intrigued, I basically read this book for the plot. But Em (our MC) barely struggles. She gets in a fight? She wins. She marries an unknown prince? She ends up falling for the nice prince. She wants to know top secrets? All she has to do is ask. Things are too convenient and given freely. I like to have heart palpitations while I read, especially when characters are in a hot zone - sadly there were no sweaty palms with this one.

The characters were okay - but not great. Em was your typical badass. She can fight, she can scheme, she even has a magical sidekick named Aren. Cas was so nice, he had very little faults, basically a Gary Sue - unrememberable but had some witty humor (I have faith he'll get more interesting in book two for sure now than he can spread his wings). I don't have much to say about them which probably isn't a great thing. What I want to talk about is the King and Queen of Lera (the ones who have ordered the death of the Ruined people). These two are supposed to be baddies (I think?) but they were not scary at all. Laughable really. Empty, copy and pasted villains.

>>>>> The sister, Olivia holds great promise though, she gave me a few chills. MAKE HER BAD.

BLOOD AND CARNAGE One of my favorite things about Ruined, which made it standout was that Amy is not scared to get her characters hands dirty. Within the first few pages Em is already bathed in the blood of her enemies. There is torture and death and I just found it refreshing to see the gritty side of fantasy. I wish more authors would do this. It really brings to light this inner conflict of who's right and who's wrong. I can't wait for more of this in book two.

In Conclusion

The ending sold me on the fact that I will happily read the sequel. I do believe that this will be a story that gets better with the next books. It wasn't perfect and it definitely had some flaws but I really did enjoy it regardless. I'm hopping that Tintera will make things more of a challenge as that was my biggest issue with Ruined. But overall I'm strangely excited for book two. It wasn't astounding but at the end of the day it was a fun read.

reading, possibly eating. maybe sleeping.


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22 comments

  1. Oh, doesn't sound like the best fantasy out there. I don't read a ton of fantasy myself but I've read another negative review of this one too, so definitely doesn't sound like a book I'll check out. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. No, sadly it really isn't the best fantasy there is. But it's definitely not the worst! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who had a few issues with this one! & no problem c:

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  2. It looks like there were a few ups and downs with this one, but glad that at the end it was a good read. I really liked REBOOT, and this one sounds really good–despite the lack of challenge/world building/empty-ish characters–and so I might give this one a try, especially since you liked the ending and would carry on with the series. Great review!! :D

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    1. Ah yes! This book had a few bumps along the way but in general it wasn't too terrible of a read. I still have yet to read REBOOT but it's certainly on my list! Definitely give this one a try, Rabiah - you may end up enjoying it too :D

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  3. I really enjoyed this one, but I agree that the world-building lacks a little. Great review! I hope there will be more action in the sequel too! :)

    https://twitter.com/DivergentGryffi/status/733859601540489216

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it! The world building did lack! Thank you! & I couldn't agree more. There needs to be more action in book two ;u:

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  4. Eeep, now I'm worried. *hides* I'm about to start reading this...actually I procrastinated starting so I could catch up on blogging. XD But AHHH THAT IS REALLY DISAPPOINTING SOUNDING. D: Flat and boring villains are actually my pet peeve...eep. I might lower my expectations then...

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    1. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think Cait! Maybe it's just me but I found the villains so lame. It's not too bad though! Enjoyable regardless.

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  5. I've seen so many MEH reviews for this one that it has ultimately put me off reading it. It sounds a bit too much like THE WINNER'S CURSE for me, and I really had trouble with that one :(

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    1. Oh no NO. Brit, The Winner's Curse is way way different than this one. The writing here was lighter, different plot, etc. I preferred TWC over this tbh but you may like Ruined since it's way different.

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  6. The blurb sounds so fantastic what a shame the world building didn't hold up. I'm really lacking available reading time these days, so I am trying to be super picky, but I think I'll wait until the second books comes out and see what's said about it before I rule out reading this one :-) awesome review :-).

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    1. That's a really good idea, Sarah! I'm hoping that book two is better. I'll be sure to let it be no known if it is! Thanks so much c:

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  7. Yes, that's my issue with fantasy these days. Especially with YA fantasy I read a lot of reviews focusing on the relationships between the characters and the worldbuilding but to be honest there's so little out there with graphic, bloody scenes. Fantasy is gruesome and that was always, for me at least, its selling factor. With YA fantasy seemingly washed down I can never get myself into the genre. :/

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    1. The grotesque bits of fantasy is usually forgotten which honestly breaks my heart. You're right though, ya fantasy has really began focusing on romance and swoonage more than world building and carnage. I was happy to atleast see some brutal and bloody fights in this one.

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  8. I really enjoyed this, so I'm glad you liked it too - even if you didn't especially love it. I can definitely see where you're coming from though. Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! ♥

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  9. lol - That gif. Well, that's great that it want to continue the series. I have this, but I want to wait until closer to the second book release.

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  10. I felt very similarly about this one. It was good, but very meh in a way. And I completely agree. Everything came so easily to the MC. I wanted more danger and more suspense. The sister does seem more blood-lusty than her so I'm definitely going to give the next book a try.
    Great review, Kynn!

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  11. Awesome review Kelly! I really love my world building and I think I will pass on this one. Also, I'm sad to see that the MC barely struggles in this at all, it sounds like such an easy adventure :P BUT I DO LOVE MY BLOOD AS WELL, so.....I guess....I don't know. Maybe I will pick this up, or maybe not? Maybe I will wait to see how the next book is :)

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  12. Mmmm, I'm definitely straddling the fence on this one. I've seen another 3 star review recently where the reader also mentioned how the world seemed like a little bland because of the lack of world-building. Not sure if I want to go down this route again, especially because TWATD literally had NONE lol. I may wait until more reviews roll in before making a decision!

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  13. Nick felt the same way about this one which is a bummer since it sounded so good. I haven't read anything by this author yet but I may try the audio...maybe.

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  14. Ah damn, sucks it's not as good as the synopsis makes it sound! I'm glad it's still interesting and a good read though. I've been seeing quite a bit on this book and most have been good so I can't wait to get to it myself! It seems fantasy is really in at the moment!

    Jordon @ Simply Adrift

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  15. I was really looking forward to this one and the reviews are making me sad. At least yours offers a smidge more hope lol

    Karen @For What It's Worth

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