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A review by melissadelongcox
Ruin by Laurelin Paige
I'm posting this review for all four of the books in the Slay Quartet, so these are my thoughts about the entirety of the series and I'm hiding it behind a spoiler tag!
Big huge major do not read this series trigger warning for child sexual abuse that is graphically described and exists as a major plotline - there's no avoiding it.
Thoughts without any spoilers: if you enjoyed the Fixed series and can handle the content mentioned in the trigger warning, you absolutely must read this quartet. I hated Celia so, so much throughout all of Fixed and these books humanized her and really developed her character. (And of course, I'm not mad to check back in with Alayna and Hudson!) I actually enjoyed getting to know her and Edward, and while I was sometimes screeching at my book trying to understand what the fuck they were doing, I pretty much read these straight through over the last few days so I was clearly hooked.
Spoilers hidden here!
The child sexual abuse was incredibly difficult to read, and I'm having trouble coming up with any other words to say about that. I'm not sure I would've read the series had I realized before starting that it was such a prevalent part of the story, so again, just something to consider.
At times, I was really frustrated by how utterly unreasonable both Edward and Celia behaved. I understand it's part of their dynamic and how their characters were supposed to behave but holy shit - just talk? And then there wouldn't be an issue? There also wouldn't be as much story to work on but I feel like that's where we could've seen even more of their story because there would've been time to show more of the fastforward!
On that note, I love that we got that six years later scene. All books should give us those types of scenes!
Big huge major do not read this series trigger warning for child sexual abuse that is graphically described and exists as a major plotline - there's no avoiding it.
Thoughts without any spoilers: if you enjoyed the Fixed series and can handle the content mentioned in the trigger warning, you absolutely must read this quartet. I hated Celia so, so much throughout all of Fixed and these books humanized her and really developed her character. (And of course, I'm not mad to check back in with Alayna and Hudson!) I actually enjoyed getting to know her and Edward, and while I was sometimes screeching at my book trying to understand what the fuck they were doing, I pretty much read these straight through over the last few days so I was clearly hooked.
Spoilers hidden here!
Spoiler
Okay so - wowsers. There is a lot happening here. First things first - overall, I really did enjoy these and I loved the depth of the character development. I felt like we got A LOT throughout the course of these four books, both past and present, and we got to learn about the side characters in the story as well. I was a little sad at the ending - I understand that we're supposed to feel like something just *clicked*, thus the abrupt feeling to the end, but it still felt too abrupt for me after being fully immersed in the story for the better part of a few days. (I think if I had read these as they were released, I may not have had this complaint.)The child sexual abuse was incredibly difficult to read, and I'm having trouble coming up with any other words to say about that. I'm not sure I would've read the series had I realized before starting that it was such a prevalent part of the story, so again, just something to consider.
At times, I was really frustrated by how utterly unreasonable both Edward and Celia behaved. I understand it's part of their dynamic and how their characters were supposed to behave but holy shit - just talk? And then there wouldn't be an issue? There also wouldn't be as much story to work on but I feel like that's where we could've seen even more of their story because there would've been time to show more of the fastforward!
On that note, I love that we got that six years later scene. All books should give us those types of scenes!