There had better be a book 2!!! I loved this book and I can't wait to reread it and I'm so mad that book 2 is not already here in my hands (even though book 1 hasn't even been published yet.) Seriously Road to Ruin was INCREDIBLE! High Fantasy Mad Max that I never knew I needed. Our protagonist, Jin, is wonderful. The type of girl who pretends to be tough and closed off but would give her last bit of food to the alley cat that just bit her. Kadrin and Reena are each wonderful in their own ways, both of them truly playing on the sun and moon imagery. Always bound together but still so unique. I hope we get to see more of Kadrin next time because I feel like we really got to know Reena well, see her intelligence and her desire to do the right thing even when she's not sure what that is. I also want to see more of Sou-Zelle even. I fully expected to hate him the entire time and while he still has a long way to go I can see the seeds of change planted in him. Pre-Order this book! Read this book immediately! It was SO GOOD!!

I had a hard time with this book because I really wanted to like it! It promised to fit all of the boxes I want in a book - gay, love triangles/polyamory, unique magic system, conscious of real world issues - and yet it fell flat for me. The whole story takes place over 7 days which didn’t seem possible. It felt like there must be more than 24 hours in a day in this world for everything to occur and unfortunately that really took me out of the story. I wish we had seen the characters fall in love so it was more believable, instead of being told they were as it might have made me care about them more. I also found myself confused about some elements in the world building or plot and never had resolution on them. Some of the gaps I can see being fleshed out in later books since this is a series, but others felt like the characters not knowing how something worked was a work around for the author to not have to define it. For a debut novel, I do think it is pretty good, just not for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!

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.