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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
Just wasn’t vibing, I feel like there is supposed to be a prequel but there isn’t and getting flash backs is throwing me off.
I know it can’t be easy to write a story involving a maze and make the descriptions make sense for the reader to follow along. I commend anyone that makes this attempt. However, I found this book so disorienting and tough to get through. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to feel this way along with the FMC that starts off with amnesia and considered pushing through just to see if her memory coming back shifts the writing style but from looking at other reviews it looks like that isn’t the case and I’m just not enjoying my time with this story at all.
I don’t like the dynamic between the FMC and MMC. I really don’t like that he seems to have lots of answers and refuses to explain anything helpful because he’s mad at the FMC. I don’t like the idea of bondage/ropes/pain being the source of using power (must be a kink plot but I’m not a fan). I should have quit 20 pages ago when the FMC was checking out the very anatomically correct p*nis of a statue and my eye rolls began(clearly real people turned to stone I’m assuming).
I’m seriously wondering if I can trust future Owlcrate romantasy picks based on this being their first box.
I don’t like the dynamic between the FMC and MMC. I really don’t like that he seems to have lots of answers and refuses to explain anything helpful because he’s mad at the FMC. I don’t like the idea of bondage/ropes/pain being the source of using power (must be a kink plot but I’m not a fan). I should have quit 20 pages ago when the FMC was checking out the very anatomically correct p*nis of a statue and my eye rolls began
I’m seriously wondering if I can trust future Owlcrate romantasy picks based on this being their first box.
Original review at Gabic Reads.
https://gabicreads.blogspot.com/2025/08/dnf-review-exquisite-ruin-labyrinth-1.html
I wanted to like this book. However, for a Labyrinth retelling, I found it quite boring. I also just felt like the main characters were having the same conversation over and over again and it was so tiring. I wasn't connecting with Sadaré or Daesra which also led to me not wanting to continue. I even put it down for a bit and then came back to it and it still wasn't hitting so I decided to DNF.
https://gabicreads.blogspot.com/2025/08/dnf-review-exquisite-ruin-labyrinth-1.html
I wanted to like this book. However, for a Labyrinth retelling, I found it quite boring. I also just felt like the main characters were having the same conversation over and over again and it was so tiring. I wasn't connecting with Sadaré or Daesra which also led to me not wanting to continue. I even put it down for a bit and then came back to it and it still wasn't hitting so I decided to DNF.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Exquisite Ruin is a kinky romantasy with touches of inspiration from Ancient Greek mythology. It centered Sadare, an amnesiac witch who thirsts for more power than she has, and Daesra, a daemon whom Sadare betrayed in her quest for it, as they stumble through a maze built by the gods as a trial for the pair. At the center lies the promise of one of their hearts’ desires, if they can make it past the horrors of the maze, Sadare’s slowly returning memories, and a rekindling of lust between two powerful players who cannot trust one another but need each other to survive.
Sounds great, right? I thought so too. Unfortunately, for me, Exquisite Ruin was less than the sum of its parts (as detailed in the back cover trope list of the ARC I read).
It is possible that romantasy, at least in its most common and most popular form, just isn’t for me. I liked Sadare at first, because she seemed to break some of the tropes of a romantasy FMC: though she was predictably Small and Feisty™️ and On The Back Foot and Weaker™️ than the MMC in the primary storyline, we were quickly introduced into a memory revealing flashback device wherein we learn she is ruthless, ambitious, and multivalent, capable of deep love and just as capable of sacrificing it for her own ends. She’s also unashamed of her physical wants in a way that was really refreshing, and I enjoyed the “chosen pain for chosen power” magic system with her as the avenue for exploring it. Past Sadare made me keep reading even through present timeline’s Sadare moments of insipidness. But the reveal at the end that retconned so much of her character choices without giving an in-chronological-timeline justification soured the experience of her tremendously.
And what to be said about Daesra? If you’ve read one ethnically ambiguous, monstrous-but-only-enough-for-vanilla-girlies-to-feel-edgy, broody, growly, and quippy Shadow Daddy romantasy MMC, you’ve read them all. He has blue skin and horns, I guess? And he doesn’t do shadow magic, he does basically every elemental sort. But he’s Ungodly Powerful (god forbid the FMC outgun him!), and centuries old (can’t forget that age gap!), and flips on a dime to being a goner for the FMC when the plot demands, “there’s been enough enemies it’s time for lovers now, ok?” He might have been compelling if his backstory hadn’t been infodumped the way it was. Which is to say, it was infodumped, and only after he was like “why would I tell you, Sadare? You betrayed me. And also I like to see you suffer and your amnesia is funny to me. But also here’s the deets.” So exhausting to read in all ways.
The world building was your standard romantasy fare, too: convoluted, but don’t tug at the logic of any one part of it or the whole house of cards tumbles. The gods lore at the center of everything could’ve been cool if it was integrated into the story more, maybe as a parallel to what S and D were doing? But what fell most flat was the maze. The statue monsters were cool, but the Amnesia of it all meant we didn’t get their significance until it was stated outright at the end. In fact, the whole Several Page Infodump about how we got here as a justification for the conceit of the story was so bad that only the fact I had under 50 pages to go kept me from DNFing.
It’s clear the author’s heart was in the tension between the characters and nowhere else. (Maybe her heart was also in the pug stand-in, who is proof positive that not everything you put in your first draft should make it to the printing press). Which is fine! The sexual tension and the sex scenes were fun! I just really wish more authors who want to write erotica would woman up and do it, instead of pretending their stories have something else to offer than that. But as that seems unlikely to change here, I will not be continuing with this series.
I recommend Exquisite Ruin to romantasy readers who love what’s already being foregrounded in the genre, who love a little monster in their MMC, and who aren’t afraid to dabble in thinking about BDSM.
DNF
This book bored me so much and I read reviews from people and they said it bored them too and that the twist at the end is weird and confusing.
This book bored me so much and I read reviews from people and they said it bored them too and that the twist at the end is weird and confusing.
dark
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was interesting. I didn't expect the twist that came but I don't know if that's cause it doesn't make sense. The concept was cool. The execution was shaky.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes