Perfect Ruin

Reviewer: Kelsey

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Format: ARC Paperback (Publisher requested review)

Pages: 358

Rating: 7 out of 10

Summary (Goodreads is my life): On Internment, the floating island in the clouds where 15-year-old Morgan Stockhour lives, getting too close to the edge can lead to madness. Even though Morgan's older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. She tries her best not to mind that her life is orderly and boring, and if she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in best friend Pen and her betrothed, Basil.

Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially when she meets Judas. He is the boy being blamed for the murder — betrothed to the victim — but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. Secrets lay at the heart of Internment, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find — or who she will lose.

My Thoughts: I was pretty pumped to be able to read this novel. I’ve read novels by this author before and I enjoyed them so much that I felt the need to buy the rest of the series while I was on vacation. I think that this author has an incredible imagination and is a great storyteller. She can get you into a story. Also, I love that she uses “English Major Words” or for our American friends maybe we can call them SAT words? I love learning new words and I could with this novel; not that I was forced to look any up, context is so helpful.

Hopefully, this won’t become a love triangle. At one point during the novel it felt like that was where we were headed but a part of the novel changed that for me, I’m just holding out hope for the second one. I don’t want a love triangle because I hate them but also, in this case, I love Basil. I think he’s great. It’s a little odd that they actually cared about each other. In other novels where they are forced to be with people, the main character ends up hating that person. Matched may be an exception. If your experience with this type of plot line is different than mine, I need to point out how weird and stupid that is. I wouldn’t love someone that I was told to love. I would question every interaction with them and wonder why I do what I do. Do I actually love them or have I been convinced that I have to love them and therefore act differently. Yes, these are the things that I think about in my spare time.

There are essay excerpts at the beginning of each chapter and, while they make little sense at the beginning of the novel, as the story goes on they explain a lot about the world in which Morgan lives as well as some of the character’s motivations.

I really feel bad for Lex. I hope that the next novel explains why people get hurt when they jump. I think I might have missed that explanation. It all seemed a little confused for me. It was almost like a full explanation was avoided. I can understand why, it would give the author a lot more work but I would like some answers just the same. Plus, I need a real not mythological or guess reason for why they are in the sky. Yes, I want the author to come out and flat out say where we are and why. I hate guessing AND unanswered questions. I guess I’ll just have to read the whole series.

The concept for this novel was very interesting though I think it needs to be a bit more developed. It was a good length and a fairly quick read but it wasn’t speedy. Now, I’m being confusing. How do I explain this? It didn’t feel like a quick read until I looked back and saw how fast I finished it. Close to the end still feels like the middle. It may have been that I confused the climax a bit. There are two highish points in this novel. Upon completing it, I realized that the very end is actually the climax and leads up to another novel but while at the first high point, I thought it would be the most important part. I’m going to explain this away as just being the first in the series and needing to set everything up. I hope that’s just it.

The characters in this were great. I want a Basil, Lex was a typical older brother (at least in my world anyway), and Pen was a great best friend. Each had faults, like they would if they were real people. I like characters that could be real people. Beware though, this author has never been afraid to kill off character. It’s one of the things I love about her!

Final Thoughts: I enjoyed this novel and love this author. In the future, I will continue to read her works. I am also looking forward to reading the rest of this series to get the answers I’m looking for. I’m just really sad that I’m going to have to wait for the next book! If you enjoyed Matched, Delirium, or The Chemical Garden Series than as soon as this book is released, you should go buy it.