Ruination is another League of Legends win for me. So if you count Arcane*, two out of two, maybe not much but I take what I get this days! I almost want to play the game. But then again maybe the fun is not knowing anything about it.
Actually I might say that’s definite in Ruination. I had no idea who Kalista is in the game so that was definitely a bonus.
Kalista starts out the niece of the King of Camavar though they are about the same age and grew up together. Pretty much know from the first you know this guy should not be ascending any thrones.
Camavar is a nation known for making wars (for any reason). The Kings carry a soul-sucking sword called Sanctity- the magic stuff in here is great fun. Well maybe not if you are on the receiving end of it but still. The King is deeply attached to his kind-hearted bride Isolde and when she is poisoned in an assassination attempt he’ll do anything to save her.
So Kalista winds up on the previously hidden Blessed Isles trying to get her hands on a mythical cure all holy water. Though the denizens of the isles are not at all big on giving that secret away.
Will it be too late for Isolde and hence the King’s tenuous grasp on sanity? Is the water really a cure all or a curse? Are the Blessed Isles hoarding it or guarding the world from it?
Ruination honestly would make such a great limited series. Hop on it Netflix! While it’s a very easy read the world-building and the magic is on point. While the characters are admittedly kind of tropes it’s full of politics, love, betrayal all kinds of betrayal in the end. I was really shocked where that went! And one hell of a big battle and shock ending!
Which leads me to the thing you don’t need to know League of Legends to read this novel. In fact like I said above I think I enjoyed it much more with the shock of not knowing who Kalista is in the game because that would have spoiled it.
Kalista herself is one of those characters where it’s kind of like, be a lot less naive so-called smart girl. It also kind of bugs me in books and movies when characters do something dumb that causes a lot of damage but then get too much credit for trying to fix it. But then again the ending was enough to wipe that out of my head.
So overall a win or me.
Recommend: Yes.
- If you haven’t watched Arcane on Netflix you totally should! ↩︎
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