Avenged (Ruined #2) by Amy Tintera

Amy     
Lynnie  

young adult, fantasy, action/suspense

Following the events in Ruined, Avenged by Amy Tintera follows the efforts of sisters Emelina and Olivia Flores in their efforts to rebuild their country of Ruina.  They have a tentative alliance with another country, as well as alliances with some individuals from other countries, but no one can really be trusted.  On top of that, Olivia is using her vast powers and unleashed temper to murder innocent people for the sake of revenge and hatred which serves to only further feed the flames against Ruina.  Meanwhile, Emelina must try to keep everyone working together and figure out what is best for her people.

Amy's Review

Bummer. I had high hopes for this series but this novel, the second in the series, has left me disappointed. I wasn’t into it until the midway point when it finally got interesting. (Annoyingly, Damian was mentioned several times and I don’t even remember that character from the first book in the series. A reminder of who he was/what he did would have been nice.) Unfortunately, as the ending neared, the scenes became frantic and Olivia became so unhinged that the story lost any joy and I lost interest. I have no desire to continue reading this series. I don’t enjoy the characters enough to maintain any sort of link to the series. The only ones I like are Aren and Iria but not enough to keep reading through the insanity into which this story derailed.

Lynnie's Review

Like the first book in this series, Ruined, the action in Avenged is pretty much non-stop. Starting right after the events in the first book, this book shifts its focus mainly between, Olivia, Em, Cas, and occasionally Aren. Regardless of the circumstances, Em & Cas seem destined to be drawn together leading to lots of far-fetched coincidences. Don't get me wrong, it's still fun to see it all unfold but if you are prone to eye-rolling you'll get ample opportunity to stretch those muscles.

Overall though, this is a fun second book that only left me disappointed with the cliffhanger ending (as all series do). If you liked the first book, you'll enjoy this one as well, but since it really is more of the same, stay away if you were not a fan of Ruined.