A review by virginwhocantdrive22
The Ruins by Scott Smith
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
The horror elements are so stupid and campy I just couldn't feel the tension. The pacing is terrible, not a lot happens in the middle of the stories
And the fact that the Mayans didn't want anyone to get to the vines but consistently make the mistake of letting people get there, I thought was really dumb. And, yes, why the hell did no one try to throw the vines at the Mayans? (the movie corrects this mistake, fortunately).
And there's the women written by a man. Stacy is hyper sexual but she acts like a child (the author admitted this aspect of her in the text), so disgusting and misogynistic. I won't mention they're general lack of a personality because the men didn't have much of it either. (No personality, just steriotypes).
All this wouldn't be such a problem for me if it wasn't a fucking brick of a book. Honestly, it would have been like a 3,5 stars as a novela or short story.
Spoiler
and every single person dies in the last 20% of the book (there are no chapters for me to refer to). I was hoping for some kind of conflict involving the arrival of the greeks that were supposed to get there latter and the mayans, but it ends with the final girl k*lling herself.And the fact that the Mayans didn't want anyone to get to the vines but consistently make the mistake of letting people get there, I thought was really dumb. And, yes, why the hell did no one try to throw the vines at the Mayans? (the movie corrects this mistake, fortunately).
And there's the women written by a man. Stacy is hyper sexual but she acts like a child (the author admitted this aspect of her in the text), so disgusting and misogynistic. I won't mention they're general lack of a personality because the men didn't have much of it either. (No personality, just steriotypes).
All this wouldn't be such a problem for me if it wasn't a fucking brick of a book. Honestly, it would have been like a 3,5 stars as a novela or short story.