REVIEW The Ruined.

TITLE. Ruined
AUTHOR. Amy Tintera
PUBLISHER. HarperTeen
RELEASE DATE. May 3rd 2016
PAGES. 368
FORMAT. Hardcover
GENRE. Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance

DESCRIPTION.
Emelina Flores has nothing. Her home in Ruina has been ravaged by war. She lacks the powers of her fellow Ruined. Worst of all, she witnessed her parents’ brutal murders and watched helplessly as her sister, Olivia, was kidnapped.

But because Em has nothing, she has nothing to lose. Driven by a blind desire for revenge, Em sets off on a dangerous journey to the enemy kingdom of Lera. Somewhere within Lera’s borders, Em hopes to find Olivia. But in order to find her, Em must infiltrate the royal family.

In a brilliant, elaborate plan of deception and murder, Em marries Prince Casimir, next in line to take Lera’s throne. If anyone in Lera discovers Em is not Casimir’s true betrothed, Em will be executed on the spot. But it’s the only way to salvage Em’s kingdom and what is left of her family.

Em is determined to succeed, but the closer she gets to the prince, the more she questions her mission. Em’s rage-filled heart begins to soften. But with her life—and her family—on the line, love could be Em’s deadliest mistake.

REVIEW.
First of all, I got this book through my Fairy Loot box subscription, and I’m very pleased with it!! It was my first subscription EVER and I really like them !! I love all the stuff that I got with the book and can’t wait for my June box !!

So well, this is the first book in a new series called The Ruined by Amy Tintera. She is also the writer of the Reboot series, which I haven’t read yet, but I’m not sure if I ever will. But I will get to that later.

So this book sounded very interesting, but got some mixed reviews. Some loved it while others advertised it was just more of the same we’ve seen the last couple of years in the Young Adult Fantasy genre. With so many great novels around it keeps getting harder and more difficult to distinguish your book from the rest of the mob.
But not only that, but as a reader we develop as well. Books I thought were great a couple of years ago, turned out awful when I re-read them (like the Hush Hush series). I like to think of it in a way that we cultivate our taste and grow more critical. Our standards get higher, and writers need to step up to keep us satisfied haha. 

And I do think Amy Tintera needs to step up a little bit more. I love the idea behind this book, with the different countries and the powers behind the Ruined folk sounds very interesting.. but I’m just missing a lot. Information, feelings.. everything seemed a bit rushed, while I would have liked to know more. 

So today I want to try something different for my review ! I will make lists, divided into what I did enjoy and what I didn’t. Don’t know if it will be a permanent thing or not.. we’ll see.

What I LIKED.
The main female characters spirit. I loved how she took charge and fought for herself. She wasn’t depended on others and kicked ass. She is a good fighter and stands up for herself. No silly, little damsel in distress. 
The killing. It might sound a bit hard, but I really prefer it when people die sometimes in books. It is just not realistic that everybody survives and we’re not in a Disney movie here.
Plot twists. I was surprised multiple times, and I really like it when that happens ! 
Olivia. I mean come on! How kick-ass is she! She gets out of prison and instead of whimpering and crying she just kills a bunch of people. Nice.
The Ruined powers. That did peek my interest, they seemed to have very dark powers and cool stuff.. Only wish she told us a bit more about those.
Action. A Lot happened and we get a lot of action. Sword fights, escape plans, betrayal.. Very fast paced.

What I DIDN'T LIKE.
The romance. I felt no connection between the both of them and it all seemed a bit rushed. I mean I get how it is supposed to be some crossed-lovers kind of stuff.. But I didn’t feel it.
Connected to this is, well, that girl is send there to kill the entire Lera Royal family and just because she likes Cas she doesn’t want to murder any of them anymore? Dude, those people killed your entire kingdom and are still hunting the ones left.. I found she was very easily persuaded and fell way too easy for him.
The main male character. Blegh.. what a pussy!! Okay, okay I get how he is supposed to be more righteous and peaceful.. but I found him kind of weak, boring and well.. STUPID. It was so clear Em was an imposter and he just didn’t get it. No way I would fall for that guy.
The gay best friend. And nooo I’m not homophobic, but it just seemed kind of weird and out of place? It is of course, more than okay to weave into the story, but it did not seem to have anything to do with the plot or have an influence on it.. Just a bit out of place.
More of the same. Even though it did have some new things, I did not really feel this was something special and original.. Just more of what we’ve already seen a lot of times.
Lack of background, information. Of course we do not need an overload of information, it must stay entertaining.. But I would have liked to know a bit more about well.. EVERYTHING. The people, where the countries all are in relation to each other, what happened in the past, why do some have powers and others not? How do the power thing even works? Why does everybody hate the Ruined to begin with?

FINAL THOUGHTS.
Even though, for me, this was not something special and new, I did enjoy myself reading this book. Would I read the next one? Yes I think that I do, I want to know what will happen next !! So, I would like to give this book 3 Freyja’s, and hope the next one will be better!