Perfect Ruin by Lauren Destefano

PERFECT RUIN

THE INTERNMENT CHRONICLES #1

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Publication Date: 10/01/2013

Published By: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Audience: Young Adult

Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance

 

On Internment, the floating island in the clouds where 16-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.

 

Picture and Summary from Goodreads

REVIEW

Ms. DeStefano never fails to amaze me with her writing skills.  Every book I have read by her is so wonderfully flowing and almost magical in just the writing itself. Perfect Ruin is no different.  The world she creates and the way she describes it is artfully vivid.

  

The book takes place on a land in the sky, Internment.  According to their history the reason for their "internment" in the sky is that the god of the ground decided to destroy them for their selfish ways but the sky god thought them too good to waste. He decided to save them by taking a chunk of earth, putting it in the sky, and promising the god of the ground that humans would never interfere with the ground again.  Over the years Internments society evolved to the point they are at now; arranged marriages, assigned housing, and birthing queues.  When there is a murder for the first time in our MC, Morgan's, lifetime it shakes the population and has a few of them doubting the truths of Internment and the sky god.

 

The idea for the book is well built and the characters are deeply developed.  Destefano is great at making her characters feel like real people.  Their thoughts and motives could easily be my thoughts and motives.  Morgan has spent most of her life wondering about the ground and what lies down there.  I liked that this curiosity was already a part of her.  A lot of characters require something bad to happen in order for them to question their surroundings but its only human nature to want to know about places and things we are told not to question, the fact that Morgan does this makes her even more real to me.

 

The pacing for the book was really good yet I still found myself putting the book down and walking away.  It wasn't until towards the end that I really started to get engrossed in the story and didn't want to put the book down, sadly that's when it ended.  I have high hopes that the next book is where the real excitement will pick up.  I'm looking forward to what Morgan's next adventure holds in store for her.

One of my favorite lines from the book is when Morgan interrupts her brother Lex while he is writing.  I kind of laughed and wondered if the line stemmed from Lauren's personal experience:

"I needed to stop anyway," he says.  "None of the pieces are right.  Sometimes you have to ignore it until it decides to be reasonable again."

(More of a 3.5)

 

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THE AUTHOR

 

Lauren DeStefano (pronounced: de STEFF ano) is a lawn gnome enthusiast and New York Times bestselling author of some books, which you can find listed below this bio. For the first six years of her life, she thought she was a mermaid and still has her suspicions. When she isn't writing, she is often composing tweets that make as little sense as possible.

 

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