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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don’t really know how to rate this one. It’s well written, but I think it’s just not my genre (too much action). At times this book was frustrating, as the characters were all flawed in ways that were, once again, frustrating. All of the men in this book were whiny entitled babies (Viego, Hecarim, Thresh, Ryze), first of all. And Kalista’s main crime was being incredibly naive. All played a significant role in the downfall of this nation, and it was all for selfish reasons. Kalista is the only one with good intentions but her efforts are tainted by her willingness to go through with clearly malicious plans. I do wonder if this book would have been better or worse if I hadn’t been playing League for over a decade. Was hard to separate it in my brain, and my experience of reading this can be summed up as the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme.
Read this following watching the show Arcane. It's a good attempt at a novel, though I feel the first half is stronger than the second. If you know lore about Kalista (the protagonist) you would expect that what caused her to become an angered wraith would be more deep than the story actually goes into. Some of the choices made by the characters seem a bit trope-y at times. There were moments that the villains and the heroes were in conflict simply for the fact that they were heroes and villains. There was a lot of tell not show.
As a novel I think it was competently written. The ideas behind it, especially at the beginning, were interesting in concept and they were executed without leaving anything out or any plotholes. The latter half of the book was what didn't pull through as well as I'd liked, which left me a bit disappointed. That being said, I look forward to reading more about the League universe.
If you like Arcane, played the Riot Forge games particularly Ruined King, or play League of Legends you will enjoy this book. If you are a younger fantasy reader you will enjoy it too.
As a novel I think it was competently written. The ideas behind it, especially at the beginning, were interesting in concept and they were executed without leaving anything out or any plotholes. The latter half of the book was what didn't pull through as well as I'd liked, which left me a bit disappointed. That being said, I look forward to reading more about the League universe.
If you like Arcane, played the Riot Forge games particularly Ruined King, or play League of Legends you will enjoy this book. If you are a younger fantasy reader you will enjoy it too.
It is ironic that the fan service that League of Legends team probably thought was essential honestly ruined the novel for me. The development in the first two-thirds of the story added true depth to the characters that fans of LoL already knew on the surface. Unfortunate then that the end of the novel is filled with forced champion quotes and abilities with no regard for the true motivation or feelings of the characters.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
While I enjoyed being taken along for the ride of the story overall, I ultimately found the characters frustratingly flat. Many characters chose actions that felt unbelievable to the reader, they had strangely-timed moments of dialogue that felt strictly included for necessary plot explanation, and many untied loose ends in the story. (Looking at you Camavor! Those poor citizens, I assume they all died of starvation and riot?)
That being said, I appreciated the world building, and was impressed at the intricate weaving of character actions that led to the story’s climax.
While I imagine I would have enjoyed the story more if I was a player of the game (my only familiarity with League of Legends is with Netflix show Arcane), I still felt Ruination was a fun-enough tale of adventure to enjoy on its own.
That being said, I appreciated the world building, and was impressed at the intricate weaving of character actions that led to the story’s climax.
While I imagine I would have enjoyed the story more if I was a player of the game (my only familiarity with League of Legends is with Netflix show Arcane), I still felt Ruination was a fun-enough tale of adventure to enjoy on its own.
6/10
played league for almost a decade now - if you love league's worldbuilding, you're gonna love this book. but if you have no idea what i'm talking about and you're wondering if this is a good fantasy standalone, i think you'll have better luck elsewhere
played league for almost a decade now - if you love league's worldbuilding, you're gonna love this book. but if you have no idea what i'm talking about and you're wondering if this is a good fantasy standalone, i think you'll have better luck elsewhere
adventurous
dark
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
fast-paced
I have been trying to read this for a month and have only managed 100 pages.
I don't think it's the books fault, I have no league of legends knowledge so I was trying this off the back of Arcane season 2 and I think this is mostly a case of a solid enough book that just didn't hold my interest because I don't know or care about these characters.
I might come back to it, the writing is overall decent if a little predictable and mostly functional rather than emotive but to be honest I'm probably just going to wait for the Ambessa novels audiobook before deciding if this is an extended world I could care about.
From what I'd read I'd probably give it a 3 or 3.5 but I'm not sure how much worth that has when I only read a quarter of the story
I don't think it's the books fault, I have no league of legends knowledge so I was trying this off the back of Arcane season 2 and I think this is mostly a case of a solid enough book that just didn't hold my interest because I don't know or care about these characters.
I might come back to it, the writing is overall decent if a little predictable and mostly functional rather than emotive but to be honest I'm probably just going to wait for the Ambessa novels audiobook before deciding if this is an extended world I could care about.
From what I'd read I'd probably give it a 3 or 3.5 but I'm not sure how much worth that has when I only read a quarter of the story