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A review by jkkenobi
Ruins by Joshua Winning
4.0
In Ruins I was delighted to see the return of some of my favourite characters from Sentinel. Sam continues to represent for older heroes, Liberty for the POCs, and we begin to see hints of LGBT representation, and not where I initially expected. Isabel continued to delight me with her feline wit, grump and feistiness.
I thoroughly enjoyed the world building and mythology and I’m curious to know if this is based on existing mythology or entirely from the author’s imagination. The story is split between various characters which almost had an action movie feel of changing scenes to follow the drama, although at times it was shrewdly tantalising (“Noooo, I want to know what happens to Sam next!”). I found the recaps of the previous book a little frustrating – it’s important to have the sequel readable either without the first novel or sometime after, so this isn’t a criticism of the author but rather a compliment, showing how eager I was to continue with the story.
There was some clever intrigue as to who the mysterious girl could be and which ‘side’ certain characters were on. The villains were both dangerous and interesting, and the eventual Big Bad was suitably terrifying. The Gentlemen in Buffy episode Hush? Yeah, that level *shudder*.
An excellent sequel to Sentinel that really drew me into this world and left me eager to dive back in for the finale, if somewhat anxious at what horrors may lie in wait!
I thoroughly enjoyed the world building and mythology and I’m curious to know if this is based on existing mythology or entirely from the author’s imagination. The story is split between various characters which almost had an action movie feel of changing scenes to follow the drama, although at times it was shrewdly tantalising (“Noooo, I want to know what happens to Sam next!”). I found the recaps of the previous book a little frustrating – it’s important to have the sequel readable either without the first novel or sometime after, so this isn’t a criticism of the author but rather a compliment, showing how eager I was to continue with the story.
There was some clever intrigue as to who the mysterious girl could be and which ‘side’ certain characters were on. The villains were both dangerous and interesting, and the eventual Big Bad was suitably terrifying. The Gentlemen in Buffy episode Hush? Yeah, that level *shudder*.
An excellent sequel to Sentinel that really drew me into this world and left me eager to dive back in for the finale, if somewhat anxious at what horrors may lie in wait!