29 April 2017

Review: Avenged

Ruined: Avenged | Amy Tintera
Published by: HarperTeenMay 2nd 2017
Genre: YA, High Fantasy, Magic
Pages: 416
Format: Ebook
Source: HarperTeen, via Edelweiss

In the sequel to Ruined, the romance of The Selection and the epic stakes of Red Queen come together in a story of revenge, adventure, and unexpected love.

Emelina Flores has come home to Ruina. After rescuing her sister Olivia from imprisonment in rival kingdom Lera, Em and Olivia together vow to rebuild Ruina to its former glory. 

But their fight has only begun. Olivia is determined to destroy everyone who acts against Ruina, but Em isn’t as sure. Ever since Em posed as Prince Casimir’s betrothed in Lera, she’s started to see another side to this war. And now that Cas has taken the throne, Em believes a truce is within reach. But Olivia suspects that Em’s romantic feelings for Cas are just coloring her judgement.

Em is determined to bring peace to her home. But when winning the war could mean betraying her family, Em faces an impossible choice between loyalty and love. Em must stay one step ahead of her enemies—and her blood—before she’s the next victim in this battle for sovereignty.

These books are INTENSE.

After reading quite a few sequels in the past year that were nowhere near as good as the first book, I was really worried about Avenged I loved Em and Cas SO MUCH in Ruined and I didn't want their story to decline, but I needn't have worried. This book is every bit as tense and dangerous and romantic as the first book.

I only have a few thoughts about this book (I mostly have feeeeelings) so I'll list them here:

-Olivia is TERRIFYING. Scariest non-villain villain in a book I've read. It's more unsettling because she means well, and every person she murders is for the good of her people. But her complete lack of feeling when she murders entire groups of people? Terrifying

-Aren, poor, tortured Aren. Confession: going into this book, I could not remember Aren at all, but he came into himself as a character in this book and I loved him. I can't wait to see how he handles his evolving power and that ending.

-The supporting characters make this book so much stronger. Noble guard Galo and his boyfriend. Newcomer Violet, another strong female character. Iria, conflicted warrior and all-around great person. August, pain in the ass (but he did up the tension so I guess he has some purpose as a human being, though I'm really struggling for something nice to say.)

This is just such a good book, and every bit as scary and heartfelt as Ruined, just on a bigger and more exciting scale and with more conflict and heartache for Em. I'm so happy this sequel was strong!

Characters 

Setting/world 
Writing 

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