Review: I first came across Tintera’s book Ruined after searching for new royalty books online! I was so excited to come across it and find that it had been reviewed by Kiera Cass, who wrote my favorite series The Selection. I was looking for romance and royalty and this book did not let me down!

What Worked:
01. The main character is a strong, empowering female. I really appreciated reading a story told through the perspective of a female character who is absolutely fearless and a master with the sword. The best part was figuring out that amongst fantastical beings relying on the power of magic, Emelina Flores, the main character, is a human being. Born to a royal family dependent on “ruined” magic, it was interesting to see she turned her flaws into strengths.

02. The romance. I came for the romance and that’s definitely what I got! I found myself quickly rooting for the two main love interests, Emelina Flores and Prince Casimir, as I progressed throughout the story. By no means was it the best relationship I have ever seen crafted. The two characters fell in love with each other rather quickly, which seemed unrealistic, as Em was quick to overlook that Casimir’s father slaughtered her people. For Em to give up her revenge plot that easily was a bit off-putting, but I was pleasantly surprised by how things had developed when I got to the end.

03. Pacing. Ruined is an incredibly fast paced book which helped to further immerse me into the storyline. I had no trouble getting hooked as the first few chapters included action and adventure surrounding Emelina Flore’s plot to get revenge on the kingdom of Lera for driving the people of Ruined near extinction.

04. The familiar storyline. Ruined is very similar to other young-adult novels that I have read, including but not limited to Red Queen and Throne of Glass. I found this to be a positive and a negative. Looking on the positive side of things, I know from reading other books like Red Queen and Throne of Glass that I like the type of stories that feature a protagonist infiltrating enemy territory to seek revenge, only to end up falling in love with a monarch. This story definitely fulfilled that storyline.

What Didn’t Work:
01. Looking on the negative side of things in terms of Ruined having a familiar storyline, because I have read other stories that feature a protagonist infiltrating enemy territory to seek revenge, only to end up falling in love with a monarch, Ruined was nothing new. I found myself comparing it to the other books I had mentioned and it was very much weaker in comparison.

02. The world-building was extremely vague. I was very surprised to not see any type of map included at the front of the book. Tintera tried to build a world with four different kingdoms: Ruina, Lera, Vallos, and Oslo. I had absolutely no idea where one country stood from the other, only being able to distinguish one land from another by it’s characteristics. Lera is apparently very bright and has beautiful beaches and lavish fields. Ruina has bad farming land and is very dark. Oslo has a large mountain range. Other than that, it was hard to determine the shape of Tintera’s world and where one kingdom stood from another.

03. The ease with which the main character was able to carry out her revenge plot. I don’t want to dwell too much on this so as not to spoil what happens, but I will say that either Emelina is incredibly good at infiltration and has practiced sneaking into palaces in a past life or the Lera guard is not as good as Tintera makes them out to be...

Jess Approved?: ✓