Ruin is exactly what the title sounds like. This book puts everybody through hell.
By this point Gwynne has already made you care about these characters, so when things keep getting worse it actually lands. There’s a lot of loss, a lot of pressure, and a lot of moments where it feels like nobody is getting out of this clean.
What keeps it from just becoming miserable is the way the characters still show up for each other. People are exhausted, scared, hurt, and usually dealing with their own problems, but they still make room for the people beside them. That loyalty and friendship is probably one of the biggest reasons this series works for me.
Corban is carrying more and more on his shoulders, and I liked that Gwynne doesn’t suddenly turn him into some all-knowing chosen one. Everybody needs him to be something bigger, but he’s still trying to figure out what the hell is happening himself. That makes him easier to care about because he still feels like a person instead of just a prophecy walking around.
The group around him matters just as much. They all have their own histories, loyalties, and reasons for being there, and it keeps the story from feeling like Corban is the only person who matters. By this point, they feel less like a collection of characters and more like people who have been through enough together that losing one of them actually hurts.
You also start seeing the consequences of people trusting the wrong leaders much more clearly here. Earlier in the series, some of those choices were frustrating. In Ruin, those choices start getting expensive.
The battles are brutal, and Gwynne is really good at making them feel physical. You can almost feel how tired everybody is. Sometimes there’s so much danger packed into the book that it starts to feel relentless, and there were definitely moments where I thought, Jesus Christ, give these people a break.
But I think that’s kind of the point.
Ruin isn’t a comfortable book. It’s the part of the story where hope starts getting harder to hold onto, and that makes the characters’ choices matter more. It’s easy to be decent when things are going well. It’s a lot harder when everything is falling apart.
That’s probably what I liked most about it. The series keeps asking whether loyalty, friendship, and doing the right thing still matter when there’s no guarantee any of it is going to pay off.
Who I’d recommend it to: Anyone already invested in The Faithful and the Fallen. If you care about Corban and the people around him, this is where the emotional weight of the series really starts hitting hard.
Caution: This one is rough. There’s a lot of violence, loss, and very little breathing room.
Discussion question: Did Ruin make you more invested in the characters, or did the nonstop pressure start wearing you down?
— Cory Lane