Ruins - Review

Ruins (Partials, # 3)

By: Dan Wells

Expected Publication: March 11th 2014 by Balzer + Bray

352 pages

Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopian

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Goodreads description--Kira, Samm, and Marcus fight to prevent a final war between Partials and humans in the gripping final installment of the blockbuster Partials Sequence.

Our time is almost up.

As the clock ticks closer and closer to the final Partial expiration date, humans and Partials stand on the brink of war. Caught in the middle, thousands of miles apart, are Samm and Kira: Samm, who is trapped on the far side of the continent beyond the vast toxic wasteland of the American Midwest; and Kira, now in the hands of Dr. Morgan, who is hell-bent on saving what's left of the Partials, even if she has to destroy Kira to do it.

The only hope lies in the hands of the scattered people of both races who seek a way to prevent the rapidly escalating conflict. But in their midst appears a mysterious figure, neither human nor Partial, with solemn warnings of the new apocalypse-one that none of them may be able to avert.

The last book in the Partials Sequence is a thrill ride of epic proportions, as the last remnants of life on our planet fight to determine its final fate.

I started Ruins 4!!!! years ago. I read 10% and put it down. I'd finished Fragments over a year before that. The more time that went by between finishing Fragments and starting Ruins the harder it was to pick back up. The series is heavy on details, but my favorite part (the relationships) aren't driving the story.

That leads me to my first point about Ruins...Samm and Kira are separated for the majority of the book. As a matter of fact, I felt like there were really too many narrators because of the separation between all of the major characters.

Speaking of the characters, I had a harder time keeping up with all of the characters in Ruins. Considering there really aren't a large number of new characters in this book that haven't been in the prior books I'd say this is probably my own fault for letting nearly 5 years go by since finishing book 2. And the number of narrators was a bit distracting even though they all served a purpose. Marcus wasn't quite as funny in Ruins to me as he has been in the prior books.

I think this series likely has some "hidden" commentary on racism (or more how things should be) and how we all need each other no matter our background. But I'll save that for the reader to get out of it what they will. Even though this normally really bugs me, the commentary wasn't obnoxious so I didn't feel as if the author was trying so hard to preach at me or push an agenda which can often happen.

Truthfully I'm disappointed in myself for not doing a better job on this review. I feel like this book and the series ending deserved better from me as far as my attention goes. I truly blame myself for letting so much time go by between books. Unfortunately this definitely affected my overall feelings and enjoyment of Ruins.

I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this quote. I'll share it with you while I ponder on it a little longer:

-You don’t apologize for this, Samm. It’s love, and love doesn’t weigh its options and pick the best one—love just wants things, and it doesn’t know why, and it doesn’t matter why, because love is the only explanation love needs."

Ruins gets 3.5 Stars. I feel like it deserves better but the length of time between books caused me to forget too much of the prior story and thus lessened my experience of the story. That isn't Ruins fault, but it also doesn't change how I enjoyed the book. I was overall happy with the ending of the series, and I'm glad to finally be able to mark this series as complete. Have you read Ruins? What did you think? Let me know!