This book was such a nonstop ride! The fascinating, thought-out world (a magical Mad Max with dinosaurs and mana storms and a magic-classed societal hierarchy) is gripping and unique, but the characters are what will remain with you long after. So much yearning! Unspoken longing! Repressed feelings!

My very favorite bit (yes, despite the adorable/violent baby dinosaur named Screech) was that Lee never takes the easy way out with her characters or her story. Where a less assured author might deliver a more superficial/straightforward character arc, Lee leans in to the messy complexity that people are made of. There is room in Road to Ruin for moral greys, for absolution and imperfection, for mistakes made and feelings denied. In that sense, magic shields and uber-cool magebikes aside, this book is as real as it gets. A brilliant fantasy debut.

This was a total romp. Fast-paced, fun, and inventive. I was immersed in the world from the first page. I particularly adore the attention paid relationships and how the author avoids cliches or simple answers in favor of more complex emotions. Read this, you won’t regret it.

This was both expertly written and extremely enjoyable. I adored the love triangle and the dynamics between the three very different main characters--I genuinely did not have a favorite pairing, which is very rare for me with love triangles! I also loved the saurians, the magic system, the side characters--basically everything about this book. "Road to Ruin" was one of my most anticipated 2024 releases and it definitely lived up to my hopes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

Mad Max: Fury Road meets Horizon: Zero Dawn in a high-adrenaline, apocalyptic wasteland world filled with intriguing worldbuilding, heart-twisting romance, and high stakes motorcycle action.