Review of Rage and Ruin by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Rage and Ruin by Jennifer L. Armentrout

3.8 out of 5 Stars

I don't know why, but I didn't love this book as much as I thought I would. It was still good, it just wasn't the oh-my-god-I-loved-this good like I tend to feel about her other books. To me, everything seemed more surface level compared to previous strong personalities and intense plot development. In all fairness, I am coming out of a reading slump which could be heavily affecting the way that I am looking at this story and reviewing it.

As a whole though, it felt almost like it was written on autopilot if that makes sense? Like, JLA is a fantastic writer, so writing on autopilot is still going to give you a great read, but a lot of phrases were overly familiar, a lot of tropes were overly familiar, and I didn't feel that connection with the book that I was going to be on a crazy fun roller coaster. I knew all the turns and all the plunges so nothing was as exciting and new.

I honestly don't even really want to get into a huge review/break down discussion of the book, which makes my heart a little sad. BUT, I don't want that to be any indication of the quality of this book. I think my not wanted to give it a full review is part of me just coming out of my reading slump so please don't read too much into that.

I think the biggest "review" I can confidently give this book is that it is a sophomore book. Now, I have read some really bad sophomore books and this was not one of those. However, I think all sophomore books have the near insurmountable task of being more than a set-up book, and I think most fail. This one certainly wasn't a failure because there was definitely a separate plot goal in mind, but for the most part it felt like a set-up book. But what a set-up. Holy cow, that was a boss ending.

Was it fabulous? Eh, not so much for me. Was it good? Yes. I can very comfortably say that and recommend to readers of the series to keep going, especially because I am so intrigued about where we are going to go in the next book.

Thanks for reading!