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A review by motherlatesha
The Ruins by Scott Smith
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I’m not surprised Stephen King likes this book.
If you picked up this book thinking you’ll get a mysterious, unique story that would give you a big reveal at the end or take you on a journey, you will be disappointed.
This story was just like any book or movie you've read or watched about a group of young people going on vacation only to end up in a dangerous foreign land after ignoring the locals and all warnings.
I don’t mind stories that follow similar patterns to others but there just wasn’t anything to this story that would make anyone like it.
The characters were so stupid and annoying, one of the main guys almost felt like the author’s self insert with how smart and logical he was compared to everyone else. The girls were somehow written to be even more stupid and incapable than the guys despite them both being educated?
It felt more like the audience was being dragged along unwillingly rather than being taken on a horrifying adventure.
The horror was the only thing this story had to offer but there just wasn’t enough it. Scenes where the characters were just hurt dragged on for way longer than the scenes of horror at the hands of the monster they were facing.
And you didn’t even care when something bad happened to the characters because it was hard to feel attached to them, at the end I was rooting for the thing to take all of them out.
I will commend the author for the one even I found genuinely well written was one of the characters recounting a story from his past while trying to comfort another character. The story seemed to be foreshadowing or setting the mood for what’s to come in the story with the characters thoughts and emotions but it didn’t.
If you picked up this book thinking you’ll get a mysterious, unique story that would give you a big reveal at the end or take you on a journey, you will be disappointed.
This story was just like any book or movie you've read or watched about a group of young people going on vacation only to end up in a dangerous foreign land after ignoring the locals and all warnings.
I don’t mind stories that follow similar patterns to others but there just wasn’t anything to this story that would make anyone like it.
The characters were so stupid and annoying, one of the main guys almost felt like the author’s self insert with how smart and logical he was compared to everyone else. The girls were somehow written to be even more stupid and incapable than the guys despite them both being educated?
It felt more like the audience was being dragged along unwillingly rather than being taken on a horrifying adventure.
The horror was the only thing this story had to offer but there just wasn’t enough it. Scenes where the characters were just hurt dragged on for way longer than the scenes of horror at the hands of the monster they were facing.
And you didn’t even care when something bad happened to the characters because it was hard to feel attached to them, at the end I was rooting for the thing to take all of them out.
I will commend the author for the one even I found genuinely well written was one of the characters recounting a story from his past while trying to comfort another character. The story seemed to be foreshadowing or setting the mood for what’s to come in the story with the characters thoughts and emotions but it didn’t.