Book Review: Ruination
Ruination was a comfortably fast paced fantasy that reminded me what I love so much about the genre.
The reader follows Kalista and Viego; although uncle and niece their dynamic and closeness in age made them more like siblings. Siblings who would do anything for each other. Kalista, strong willed and strategic made her perfect to head the military faction surrounding the royalty of Camavor while Viego took the crown. All seems to be going rather well until Viego’s wife is struck with an assassin’s poisoned dagger.
Viego plunges into the madness of denial and grief, glued to the Isolde’s side during her final days. He orders Kalista to do anything to save his beloved. Even if that means searching the ends of the earth for the “Blessed Isles” a place which is rumoured to house the “Well of Ages” and its magical healing abilities.
Desperate to save both Isolde and Viego, Kalista agrees to an insane mission and ends up entangled in corruption, disloyalty and brewing civil unrest.
The Blessed Iles may not be so blessed after all.
I found Ruination to be enjoyable but didn’t bring anything new to the table when it comes to the fantasy genre. The plot, characters, worldbuilding and even magic were fairly simple and easy to follow. Our cast of characters (and there were a few) were introduced at convenient times for the story and were entertaining in their own right. Each of them felt authentic and different from one another while remaining safely in some form of fantasy trope. The world wasn’t huge, but a bigger world was certainly alluded to, meaning that this series, should it continue has room to grow.
When it came to the magic (and this was honestly probably my favorited element of the book), we were introduced to a few different aspects without the story itself being focused on the magical elements. Shadow and healing magic were mentioned briefly and were again, introduced at opportune times and these were both a lot of fun to witness. I, however, am most intrigued by the sentinel stones which were introduced later in the tale. I think there is so much more to be explored here and I hope we get a look at this in future League of Legend works.
While it isn’t necessarily a criticism this book felt very safe. There were no wild twists and turns, no thinking outside of the fantastical box and was rather predictable the whole way through. This fact may frustrate some readers hoping to find the next epic fantasy but titillate those new to the genre who want a taste of what makes it so enjoyable. The approachability and comforting feel of Ruination also means that those of us who occasionally fall into a reading slump could pick something like this up and have a good time.
