Review: Ruins by Dan Wells

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on March 3, 2014 | 7 Comments


Review: Ruins by Dan WellsRuins by Dan Wells
Series: Partials Sequence #3
Published by Balzer + Bray (3.11.2014)
Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Format: ARC, 464 pages
Source: From Publisher
Buy on Amazon


4 Stars

Kira, Samm, and Marcus fight to prevent a final war between Partials and humans in the gripping final installment in the Partials Sequence, a series that combines the thrilling action of The Hunger Games with the provocative themes of Blade Runner and The Stand.

There is no avoiding it—the war to decide the fate of both humans and Partials is at hand. Both sides hold in their possession a weapon that could destroy the other, and Kira Walker has precious little time to prevent that from happening. She has one chance to save both species and the world with them, but it will only come at great personal cost.

My thoughts

“Waging war is the easy part – making peace will be the hardest thing we’ve ever done.”

Dan Wells is a pro at storytelling. He brings the world to life! It’s always so easy to imagine the story as real because everything is so convincing. The world & setting is by far my favorite part of this entire series – the world building is cinematic!

“You weren’t ‘designed’ to cure RM, but you did it anyway. You weren’t designed to cross the toxic wasteland, but you did that, too, and then you escaped from I don’t know how many bad guys, and crossed through the middle of a war zone, and while every other group of weary, bloodied refugees is getting smaller and smaller, yours is getting bigger. You’re teaching people, and you’re recruiting people, and it’s not because you were built that way, or because you had some kind of glorious destiny to fulfill, but because you’re you. You’re Kira Walker. You’re not going to save the world because you’re the chosen one, you’re going to save it because you want to save it, and nobody in this world works harder for what they want than you do.”

I love this quote, because it describes her perfectly! She took so much on her shoulders and it never broke her. She stayed strong and did what she had to do no matter what. She never gave up on peace when everyone else thought it was a lost cause.

My one complaint: Cat killing. If you didn’t already see my discussion about this, it’s the one thing in literature that I can’t handle, however ‘realistic’ it may be. I could have done without reading about a cat being hunted and skinned and eaten, thank you very much.

I wasn’t too thrilled about the love triangle, either. It was kind of inevitable that it would come together, but still. I felt bad for Marcus, yet at the same time he really earned my respect with the way he handled it. I loved him for that! Kira, not so much. It irritated me that she thought she was “in love” with two different guys at the same time. That’s not how love works in my opinion. You may love them both, sure, but you’re not “in love” with either of them if you want someone else…

I have to admit that Heron earned my grudging respect, and I kind of felt bad for her. Also, I thought it was awesome that the Partials could share dreams! And the gene-modded monsters were totally creepy. 

Overall, I liked the way everything turned out in the end. It was a satisfying finale to a great series!

quotes

“Love is when you have the opportunity of turning someone’s feelings or trust or vulnerability against them, but you don’t. You make promises you don’t want to keep, but you keep them because they’re right; you help people who can’t help you back. […] Love is when you find something so great, so…necessary, that it becomes more important to you than your own goals, than your own life – not because your life has no meaning without it, but because it gives your life a meaning it never had before.”

“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.”

Overall Assessment

Plot: 4/5 
Premise: 5/5 
Writing style: 5/5 
Originality: 5/5 
Characters: 4/5 
World-building: 5/5 
Pace: 4/5 
Feels: 3/5 
Cover: 4/5 
Overall rating: 4/5

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Jessi (Geo)

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7 responses to “Review: Ruins by Dan Wells

  1. It irritated me that she thought she was “in love” with two different guys at the same time. That’s not how love works in my opinion. You may love them both, sure, but you’re not “in love” with either of them if you want someone else…

    I totally agree! I don’t believe you can be in love with two people at once. You can certainly care for two people, but not be like.. truly, passionately, IN LOVE with both at the same time.

    Anyway I’m glad you liked the book! I actually just finished Fragments and wasn’t super thrilled with it.. but I hope I like Ruins more!

  2. I’m usually not a very big fan of love triangles unless it’s truly a well-done one, but I definitely agree! Being “in love” with someone is different than loving someone, and it’s kind of weird that she did share both of those feelings with someone. You’re going to always be in love with someone and then love the other at most, but never end up totally smitten with them. Also, I’m glad that Dan is a great storyteller, I really want to give this series a try now! Fantastic review, Jessi! <33

  3. Ok, I have to say… I didn’t read a word of your review but I couldn’t resist sneaking a peak at your final rating! I loved the first one, and haven’t even read the second one yet! I was so worried that the final book might not be fantastic but by the looks of that 4 rating it is :) Now I can binge read book 2 and 3 together :D

  4. I didn’t read your review b/c I’m a great big lamewad who hasn’t read Partials yet. But I’m going to. Especially now that the series is finished and I don’t have stress about things like cliffhangers and long-waits between books ;) I’m glad the series ended well for you!

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