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A review by cece_rants_raves_reviews
The Ruined Wanderer by Elliott Teron
3.0
**I was provided with an ARC for an honest review**
From page one, this book brings you back into the crafty world of magic and mayhem that we first discovered in "Lost Princess"
Our Main characters
Theo protective optimistic and dorky protagonist, with his braid and powers he learning
Clyde childhood best friend, being the more darker edgy half of this duo; he follows Theo everywhere
These two friends go out to explore the world after leaving their village when they get suddenly thrown in the middle of the shitshow that is Nemesine's mayhem.
Selene the icequeen mage is back ! Continuing her strength of character balancing the victim and survivor complex... and THE SASS.
I continue to adore this powerful woman and this book worked to give her the goddamn respect she deserves. We get more insight into her background and her power-hungry abilities. She thrives off her magic and hates to feel helpless.
Our Secondary Characters
At times, it just felt like there was ... and this is a technical term... shitton of people.?.
It got kinda confusing to keep track of them all in who I actually needed to remember and was important.
Phillipe soldiers. Raven temptress warrior. Pierre bookworm wizard from first book. Marlee chatty pickpocket. Yuki female assassin.Flask^TRIGGER WARNING!^. Headmaster Oberin. Commander Arren. Alicia Saint-Lady. Jenny. Baras. Lukas.
And Jerrod the oldie talking knight who is quickly becoming a favorite of mine
Setting
The worldbuilding is very unique in the different empires and diverse magical abilities but what I really appreciated about this writing was how ^beautifully^ well-written the author distinguishes cultures ‼️
Each empire, village, city we visited, had its own unique traits and vibes.
The fast dangerous pace of Brass City. The overworked and regulations of Northern Barracks. The dark lair of Nemesine. The isolated holy city of Blesoon. The traumatic Abradas Estate. The slumbering Castle Cagliostro.
But my favorite by FAR was the village Redshire with their local tradition that everyone has a special braid
Random occurrences, subtle suggestions, and excessive details all appear unrelated at first but as the writer continues to pull us along with each page, all the acts are woven together to reveal the final plot.
Also just an FYI, this is NOT a sequel!! The Wanderer and Princess are set in same universe but are both part of an ongoing story ... Therefore, some of #2 occurs beforehand then intertwines with #1 that gives more details of the aftermath sprinkled with hints of what’s to come in #3
Weaknesses
I guess my major critique is that I need more ✨character dynamics✨. Slow down. Let us breathe. Let us have a moment of adventure/ infodump then pause all the build-up to enjoy funny banter among our characters. I needed to know more about Clyde (and Theo) to have them interacting with each other and Selene.
The place where this book sorta struggles to me and the reason it doesn’t *quite* compare to the other great fantasy is the lack of character relations and dynamics. The friendship of Clyde and Theo is cute but surface deep. I mean for childhood friends, they felt weirdly formal with each other.
The rest of the characters are interesting with some great pop-up scenes like with Raven appearing for one battle scene and a witty line… but we don’t have any of the great group dynamics of everyone together laughing struggling bonding.
Overall
I definitely recommend if you just want fun mystery and fantasy, because this book clearly ticks all those great essentials. But you really gotta make an effort to connect to the characters and accept that they not really trying to connect to each other either. They all just trying to survive *fucking valid tho* so its more about the mystery and power buildup instead of focusing on the characters themselves
This book reflects bloody brillant ideas with its vivid settings, established practices in the Cult of Arlys, and the fact that these characters are woven between two different books with complex plots that intertwine within a larger picture. What struggles in the writing is the lack of dialogue among the characters outside of just exchanging information. !!Authors!! By strengthening characters’ bonds and relationships with each other, it will further connect your readers to engage with the story. It’s the difference between reading to find out what happens versus reading to see how your characters solve the issue.
And now...
We have two major bad guys with powers way beyond anyone’s understanding and the only person with their level of magic is currently Umr who don’t know if we can trust and gotta see if Theo and Selene develop abiltiies to hopefully be on the same power level or pray to god someone else does. Book 3 definitely has a lot to cover, and I wonder whose POV is next.
From page one, this book brings you back into the crafty world of magic and mayhem that we first discovered in "Lost Princess"
Our Main characters
Theo protective optimistic and dorky protagonist, with his braid and powers he learning
Clyde childhood best friend, being the more darker edgy half of this duo; he follows Theo everywhere
These two friends go out to explore the world after leaving their village when they get suddenly thrown in the middle of the shitshow that is Nemesine's mayhem.
Selene the ice
“Revenge is a dish best served cold." Selene whispered with a grin crawling across her face, "Oh, yes...Very cold, indeed. I love that metaphor.”
I continue to adore this powerful woman and this book worked to give her the goddamn respect she deserves. We get more insight into her background and her power-hungry abilities. She thrives off her magic and hates to feel helpless.
Our Secondary Characters
At times, it just felt like there was ... and this is a technical term... shitton of people.?.
It got kinda confusing to keep track of them all in who I actually needed to remember and was important.
Phillipe soldiers. Raven temptress warrior. Pierre bookworm wizard from first book. Marlee chatty pickpocket. Yuki female assassin.Flask^TRIGGER WARNING!^. Headmaster Oberin. Commander Arren. Alicia Saint-Lady. Jenny. Baras. Lukas.
And Jerrod the oldie talking knight who is quickly becoming a favorite of mine
"Verily," Jerrod said, "That he keepeth beasts like this beneath Blesoon...Crimes upon crimes upon crimes! Pray pardon my tongue when I say the time cometh to fucking kill Victor.”
Setting
The worldbuilding is very unique in the different empires and diverse magical abilities but what I really appreciated about this writing was how ^beautifully^ well-written the author distinguishes cultures ‼️
Each empire, village, city we visited, had its own unique traits and vibes.
The fast dangerous pace of Brass City. The overworked and regulations of Northern Barracks. The dark lair of Nemesine. The isolated holy city of Blesoon. The traumatic Abradas Estate. The slumbering Castle Cagliostro.
But my favorite by FAR was the village Redshire with their local tradition that everyone has a special braid
"... a braid, which hung down the side of his head, a symbol of unity in his hometown Redshire. It was tradition to cut off the braid and offer to someone of significance; be it friend or lover."which makes it even more fucking cute that Theo fiddles with his braid when he's nervous or embarrassed !!!!
Random occurrences, subtle suggestions, and excessive details all appear unrelated at first but as the writer continues to pull us along with each page, all the acts are woven together to reveal the final plot.
Also just an FYI, this is NOT a sequel!! The Wanderer and Princess are set in same universe but are both part of an ongoing story ... Therefore, some of #2 occurs beforehand then intertwines with #1 that gives more details of the aftermath sprinkled with hints of what’s to come in #3
Weaknesses
I guess my major critique is that I need more ✨character dynamics✨. Slow down. Let us breathe. Let us have a moment of adventure/ infodump then pause all the build-up to enjoy funny banter among our characters. I needed to know more about Clyde (and Theo) to have them interacting with each other and Selene.
The place where this book sorta struggles to me and the reason it doesn’t *quite* compare to the other great fantasy is the lack of character relations and dynamics. The friendship of Clyde and Theo is cute but surface deep. I mean for childhood friends, they felt weirdly formal with each other.
The rest of the characters are interesting with some great pop-up scenes like with Raven appearing for one battle scene and a witty line… but we don’t have any of the great group dynamics of everyone together laughing struggling bonding.
Overall
I definitely recommend if you just want fun mystery and fantasy, because this book clearly ticks all those great essentials. But you really gotta make an effort to connect to the characters and accept that they not really trying to connect to each other either. They all just trying to survive *fucking valid tho* so its more about the mystery and power buildup instead of focusing on the characters themselves
This book reflects bloody brillant ideas with its vivid settings, established practices in the Cult of Arlys, and the fact that these characters are woven between two different books with complex plots that intertwine within a larger picture. What struggles in the writing is the lack of dialogue among the characters outside of just exchanging information. !!Authors!! By strengthening characters’ bonds and relationships with each other, it will further connect your readers to engage with the story. It’s the difference between reading to find out what happens versus reading to see how your characters solve the issue.
And now...
We have two major bad guys with powers way beyond anyone’s understanding and the only person with their level of magic is currently Umr who don’t know if we can trust and gotta see if Theo and Selene develop abiltiies to hopefully be on the same power level or pray to god someone else does. Book 3 definitely has a lot to cover, and I wonder whose POV is next.