Review: Ruins

Ruins (Partials, book three)
By Dan Wells
Published 2014 by Balzer + Bray

WARNING: There may be spoilers ahead. Read my reviews of books one and two.

Kira is doing everything in her power to prevent a war from destroying what little is left of civilization. Unfortunately, with every day that passes, it seems like doing her best is not enough. Kira is going to seize her last chance and hope that people will listen to her - or she'll die trying.

I've been singing the praises of this series since I read an ARC of book one, so I was desperate to see how it all would end. Though the final book was released in my year of no library books, I made an exception - my fiance was reading the series and, if we could both finish the book in one checkout period, I'd be allowed to read it. I know, I know - it's cheating and trust me, I felt guilty. But I also needed to know how this series would end!

In short, I loved the ending. Everything that I had loved about the series was still there and still on point in book three. I thought Wells wrapped everything up in a believable fashion, if a bit too tidy for a dystopian series. Kira is still the kick-butt heroine I fell in love with in book one. The multiple storylines that started in book two continue here, and continue to help the novel keep up a relentless pace. Once again, I found myself turning the pages as quickly as I could, eager to know what would happen. I can understand that some readers don't enjoy this kind of storytelling - the ping-ponging between different sets of characters and narratives. Personally, I love it. It keeps me from getting bored with the minutiae of any one storyline and forces me to remember all the characters, not just one or two. And again, Wells manages to balance the action with more thoughtful scenes that encourage readers to question and think. Though the actual ending was mostly unsurprising, I enjoyed it. I liked how Wells wrapped up the storylines.

As a whole, I think this series is brilliant, and I love recommending it to readers. I will definitely continue to do so and I will wait to see what Wells has is store for readers next.