Review: RUINED by Amy Tintera

RUINED by Amy Tintera was a fantastic series starter when it debuted in 2016. Each book is stronger and more gripping than the last, and the final book in the trilogy, ALLIED, released this past week. RUINED is one of those books that's hard to put down. You don't want to sleep, you don't want to work, you just want to read!!! I flew through the story, than was so sad that I had to wait a year to read more. I wound up digging out my copy of Tintera's debut novel REBOOT, which I own, but had never read, and dove into another of the author's worlds right away because I just wasn't ready to say goodbye just yet. I counted down the days to the sequel, AVENGED, last year. I've been anxiously awaiting the release of ALLIED and am currently re-reading the first book with plans to read the second and third this week.

RUINED centers around Princess Emelina, a girl bent on revenge. Two neighboring kingdoms have taken everything from her: They've killed her parents and kidnapped her sister, the heir to the throne of Ruina. Even though Em is the eldest sister, she won't inherit because she is not Ruined and has no magical abilities. How can someone so weak rule over a kingdom that was once so strong? Her only goal in life is now to save her sister. Em kills the crown princess of a neighboring kingdom, one who decapitated her father in order to marry a prince. She disguises herself as Princess Mary and goes to marry Prince Casimir herself. She vows to destroy both kingdoms from the inside, avenge Ruina, and save her sister. She never expected that Prince Casimir might actually be rational, unlike his father. That he might be kind. That she might fall for him....

Could love be the weapon that kills the ultimate revenge?

This book, this book, this book! It has fantasy. It has action. It has romance. It has feels! I can't even. Sure, there are parts that could have been a bit more fleshed out, but that's what Book Two is for, right? All that mattered was that Tintera's writing was so good, it pulled me right in--from the very intense beginning to the even more intense finale. I'm excited to learn more about Ruina and see the powers of the Ruined moving forward, and to see what the future could possibly hold for now star-crossed lovers Emelina and Casimir, whose kingdoms are on opposing sides of a brewing war.

It's hard to talk about this without giving away spoilers, though elements of the story are, of course, expected, but it's the journey to get to them that makes this story so much fun. If you're a fan of books with political intrigue or subterfuge, or if you like YA fantasy that's a little darker and takes a more twisted path to achieve its goals because it's not afraid to get its hands a little messy, then you're going to want to add RUINED to your collection. Plus, it's just pretty, so you want it for your collection anyway, right? ^.~

RUINED by Amy Tintera was published on May 3, 2016 by HarperCollins.