Review: Ruination

Review of Ruination

by Amanda Thorne:

 

My Thoughts:

Some minor spoilers in this review. There were a lot of things in Ruination that just didn't work for me. I don't know if it due to the pretty shitty mood I am in at the moment - its exam week, and I am under a lot of pressure - but I think it more the fact the fact that I honestly didn't enjoy this. So what went wrong? I cannot really pinpoint it to one thing. The romance was one of the most prominent issues however. I am not a fan of love triangles, especially unnecessary ones, and this has a unnecessary love triangle. I think it would have worked better if one of the boys had a romantic connection with Nessa and the other was just a friend. I don't see why they both had to fight over her! It created drama that didn't need to be there. Also I wasn't a huge fan of Garrett or Tyson in the first place so their instalove "connections" or pining failed to pull my at my heartstrings. The kissing scenes were also a little awkward. The descriptions used the word "wet" (as in salvia) way too many times for my liking. It didn't sound romantic at all! Luckily, the rest of the writing wasn't too shabby. However, the same cannot be said about the pacing of the book - it was shocking! The beginning was way too slow - there were far too many explanations and not enough action - then the rest of the book was rushed. Entire months would go past in the space of a short chapter. Planning missions and training took no time at all. The story felt constricted. It could have easily been spread nicely across two books. The actually plot itself was dry. I didn't feel the connection to it. The government was supposedly evil but I don't understand why it was. I understand that it did some nasty things - allegedly - but why would it shoot its own citizens? Why would it pretend they were at war? Why does it "control" its citizens? What happened in the past to cause this dystopian environment to arise? I need these answers if I am to get emotionally invested into a series. Otherwise I am just left wondering... and wondering. Also I know this isn't going to be a nice thing to say, but I feel like it has to be said: this was practically a Hunger Games rip off. It wasn't as bad as Victoria Scott's Fire & Flood as it was much subtler, but I was way too similar regardless. The love triangle, the surviving in woods, the rebellion, the younger sister connection and sacrificing for, the best friend who has to stay behind, falling in love with the survival mate, the government pretending for the cameras... I couldn't stop comparing it and I don't like feeling that way. In the end, I just didn't like this book. It was far too clichéd and poorly portrayed. I think that the author could make it work though - some more editing, some slight changes to the plotline and decent characters and this could maybe work. Note: a copy was provided courtesy of Amanda Thome through YA Buddy Readers' Group in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given or taken during this process.

 

 

Details:

 

First Line: Emma's spending her first night in this world howling inconsolably.

 

Series: Worlds Apart #1

Publication: April 5th 2014

Source: Amanda Thorne (author)

 

 2 star

If you enjoyed this, you might enjoy:
 

 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Acid by Emma Pass

Divergent by Veronica Roth