A review by iffer
Road to Ruin by Hana Lee

4.0

This was so much fun to read!  What a rollicking fun debut novel.  The author has room to grow, in my opinion, in terms of emotional immediacy of writing, but her skill for writing action and maintaining strong pacing is fantastic.  I loved the mash-up of favorite geeky settings and magic (Borderlands/Fury Road, gothic/bone accents, Torchlight), fast-paced action, soapy romance, and epistolary element.  I describe it as "soapy" romance, because I wanted to see "how it turns out," and I liked the characters, even if I didn't feel deeply emotionally tied to them.  Ugh, that ending, though.  It ties up the the story enough to make this a standalone, but is clearly made to dangle a second volume just out of our reach.