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meganamaral 's review for:
Ruined
by Amy Tintera
This was a throwback - I remember picking this up back in 2017 after EpicReads recommended this series as a promotion for the second book coming out literally the day I started or finished the first book. I had had started a new job, and honestly just wasn't into reading as much as I used to be, and this series brought me out of my reading slump, and honestly, hoping that it could do it again 5 years later. That, and I had never actually finished reading this series, and wanted to start form scratch again, seeing if I felt the same love for this book I did back in 2017 as a beginner to YA.
And I did. I definitely wasn't swooning over the characters and the story as I did in 2017, but I realized I loved this book for other reasons.
Whereas I am not usually a fan of fast paced storytelling, but Amy did a good job getting straight to the point with no fluff, but still giving us the information we needed from the world and the emotions of all the necessary characters, which in this book was Em and Cas. Would I have loved to get some kind of emotion or point of view from Cas's cousin as well as Aren? 100% But if I remember correctly, we get more background with Aren in book 2, and Cas's cousin J isn't as important as she will be coming up. It leaves some mystery. If there was one thing I would love liked this time around, that I didn't catch the first time, was telling the audience more about the Ruined's power. I feel that this time around, I knew more about their weakness than their actual power. Was it elemental? Does everyone have the same type of earth/air manipulation power?
But I did enjoy the open conversation and open mindedness of both Cas and Em once everything was more settled, them having their truths, but being open to understand one another and their motivations. Plus, I know we will get more into this next book, but I loved how Em fell in love with Cas's caregiving nature while Cas fell in love with Em never being afraid to stand up for what she believed in. And how their love wasn't influenced by their situation, but with who they were as people and who they wanted to be. Which leads to later in this book as well as in the next where they know who they are as people (and who they want to become) that they have complete trust in one another. For example, if they agreed to do something, and something seems off on one side, they don't ever doubt the other person.
I believe that was what captured me in this series, to name it my favorite of 2017. Once we get past that hurtle of Em coming clean about her fake identity to get inside the castle, there is this absolute trust between Cas and Em where they are trying to now manipulate their reality and the war in order to protect the other person and hopefully one day be together. There is no revenge plot in Cas and Em's eyes to avenge the death of their parents, but instead to strive for some kind of peace where they can protect their people as well as not become their parents.
And I did. I definitely wasn't swooning over the characters and the story as I did in 2017, but I realized I loved this book for other reasons.
Whereas I am not usually a fan of fast paced storytelling, but Amy did a good job getting straight to the point with no fluff, but still giving us the information we needed from the world and the emotions of all the necessary characters, which in this book was Em and Cas. Would I have loved to get some kind of emotion or point of view from Cas's cousin as well as Aren? 100% But if I remember correctly, we get more background with Aren in book 2, and Cas's cousin J isn't as important as she will be coming up. It leaves some mystery. If there was one thing I would love liked this time around, that I didn't catch the first time, was telling the audience more about the Ruined's power. I feel that this time around, I knew more about their weakness than their actual power. Was it elemental? Does everyone have the same type of earth/air manipulation power?
But I did enjoy the open conversation and open mindedness of both Cas and Em once everything was more settled, them having their truths, but being open to understand one another and their motivations. Plus, I know we will get more into this next book, but I loved how Em fell in love with Cas's caregiving nature while Cas fell in love with Em never being afraid to stand up for what she believed in. And how their love wasn't influenced by their situation, but with who they were as people and who they wanted to be. Which leads to later in this book as well as in the next where they know who they are as people (and who they want to become) that they have complete trust in one another. For example, if they agreed to do something, and something seems off on one side, they don't ever doubt the other person.
I believe that was what captured me in this series, to name it my favorite of 2017. Once we get past that hurtle of Em coming clean about her fake identity to get inside the castle, there is this absolute trust between Cas and Em where they are trying to now manipulate their reality and the war in order to protect the other person and hopefully one day be together. There is no revenge plot in Cas and Em's eyes to avenge the death of their parents, but instead to strive for some kind of peace where they can protect their people as well as not become their parents.