Reviews with content warning for Death - A Touch of Ruin

A great continuation of the series. This one focuses heavily on the death of Persephone’s best friend Lexa. Lexa chooses to die, and with Hades unable to help Persephone bring Lexa back to life, Persephone resorts to other, darker means, including going to Apollo and the Magi for help. Persephone continues to learn about Hades’ business dealings, forms a deeper bond with Hades by the end of the book, and they finally become engaged. Persephone learns that her relationship with Hades is solid, and she learns to let go of her fears of loss in the mortal world. I will say that Persephone’s attitude did annoy me in this book. She knows that Hades is God of the Dead and that he cannot change what the Fates desire. She also knows that she can see Lexa in the underworld, but yet continues to berate Hades for not being able to do anything. She resorts to means that have consequences for other characters. She does not listen to Hades tell her that Lexa has chosen to die, and does not consider the consequences of changing her choice.

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nitecrtlvr's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

2.75

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akbach08's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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savage_book_review's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Persephone and Hades' relationship is now public knowledge, but her Divine existence remains hidden. Living in a lust-fuelled haze, can the Goddess of Spring reconcile her desire for the Lord of the Underworld with her dreams of a 'normal' life? And what happens when the Gods choose not to smile upon those she loves?

While I did enjoy the story of this one, I found there to be a lot points to unpack, none of which went into sufficient depth to have a real impact on me. The strongest thread of all is clearly the relationship between Hades and Persephone, but as with the last book there is a lot of bouncing between extremes of mood, miscommunication and a whole lot of bedroom shenanigans! The trouble is, after a while this does start to detract from the story. At one point Hades compares himself to a horny teenager, and I'd have to agree; everything seems to stir his loins! It's not badly written, but equally it does get a bit gratuitous and it ends up just not being as spicy as it should be for the sheer volume that there is.

I think it's a shame that the stories of Leuce, Lexa and Sybil were all shoehorned into one book. They all feel a bit rushed, as do other plot points. When the resolutions come, they all happen very quickly and we just move on with the story. In this format it feels quite formulaic, and I wonder whether it might have been better to extend the series and have focused on one friend per book, or stretched the tension out over multiple books so that there could be more character and story development.

Apollo is probably the biggest let down for me - from an a-hole to an ally in essentially one conversation, I felt this completely let down the incredibly good rivalry and potential future threat that the author was building in.

That being said, I do like Persephone's gradual acceptance of her role as Queen of the Underworld, and her slow discovery of some of Hades' secrets and his life before her. And Hades is just a babe - he might be awful at communicating and have no idea how to be in a co-dependent relationship, but it's the mix of his 'touch her and die' attitude with his 'I'm so in love I can't think straight' vulnerability that makes him the most well rounded and fleshed out character of the series.

Looking forward to Hades' POV on this one!

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diana_raquel's review

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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sxcpixie's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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mari_books's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Ahhh…this series has so much potential. Persephone’s internal monologue is pretty superficial and grating at times. Still a good light fast read with mild spice. I just can’t stand her reactions sometimes.

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