megreads28 's review for:

The Ruins by Scott Smith

3.5

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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God. This would have been rated so, SO much higher if this guy could just write women like real people. That was my hugest gripe with this book. I can handle body horror, sexual content in strange places (I mean I don’t love it but it’s a hallmark of many horror/disturbing books so I feel used to it), horrible decision making, etc. But can anybody tell me why the two stupidest characters in this book were women? I’m so frustrated that such a cool concept with flow-of-consciousness style and some really phenomenal moments was weighed down by the total massacre of any intelligence or helpful additions from the female characters; one of them literally was about to enter medical school and was still incredibly stupid. AND, they were so childish.. at one point a male character even thinks of one of them as sexy, BUT childish. EW EW. They were successfully chopped down to just their bodies and nothing else, and were just disturbing to read. Another thing! There was too much pee. Like, it was weird.. I didn’t notice it until a part at the end where it just made NO sense for there to be a vivid description of pee, but there it was. 

Okay, aside from those glaring issues. I think this was a really cool take on eco-horror. It was so tense, it’s literally finals week and I still made time for this book because I regretted putting it down. I would stay up after studying/reading textbooks all day to see what as happening next, as the pacing was quick. I didn’t get attached to the characters, but

Amy’s death was probably the most well-done in my opinion and it did make me feel furious with Jeff and very sad for her.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this if I could get my mind off of Smith’s disastrous attempt at writing female characters, his apparent fascination with peeing, and the disappointing lack of explanation for the big bad entity in this story (which I guess I can accept, because how would they know?).