Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE:  The Elemental Ruins

SERIES:  Circle the Square, Book 2

AUTHOR:  Sam Burns

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  269 pages

RELEASE DATE: April 13, 2023

BLURB:

This blurb contains spoilers for book one, so proceed with caution!

What do you do the day after the world doesn’t end?

If you’re River Keyes (yeah, me), you try to figure out how you’re going to live without the internet. Because we might have kept two worlds from being destroyed, but now I’m trapped in a place with no electricity, no takeout, and no phoning home.

Worse, it’s a world where my absent father is not just present, but in power, and even more of a jerk than I remember.

At least if I’ve got to be trapped away from home, there’s Lasya Zarani, hot elven general and best eye-candy ever. Once he decides whether he wants to cut me to ribbons or take me to bed, things might get interesting.

But that’s only if my father doesn’t kill one or both of us first.

The Elemental Ruins is the second of two books featuring travel between two very different worlds, a snarky criminal trapped far from home, the angry elven general he’s lusting after, his terrible father, and a few surprises along the way. It concludes the story begun in The Elemental Keyes with happily ever afters all around.

REVIEW:

** This review contains spoilers for book one, The Elemental Keyes. The Circle the Square series contains a continuing storyline that you must read in order. **

The Elemental Ruins is the second and concluding book in Sam Burns’ Circle the Square duology.  You can read my thoughts on the excellent first book, The Elemental Keyes, here, and if you haven’t read that yet, stop reading this review and go read that book!!

Burns’ Circle the Square duology presents a significant challenge for a reviewer who is committed to not providing spoilers in their reviews (Read: me), and that is especially the case for The Elemental Ruins. Like The Elemental Keyes before it, Burns delivers a riveting, twisty, absorbing story with a top-notch romance front and center. The experience of this book is diminished if you know what’s coming next, so I’m not telling you anything about the plot other than this:  The story shifts to River’s point of view.  He’s not on Earth anymore, and he’s met his match in super-sexy Elven general Lasya.  This part of the overarching plot focuses on the situation in the “other” world, the one Elethen came from and River now finds himself.  Where the first book is more raw and gritty, unstructured even, The Elemental Ruins is more suspenseful, action-packed, and super sexy.  Burns uses a consistent tone across the series and, despite the shift in setting and narrators, seamlessly ties the two stories together.

Burns’ creativity continues to impress here, as does her vivid description of the characters and setting.  The Elemental Ruins is more intense than The Elemental Keyes, and the M/M romance is more prominent.   Burns accomplishes this with aplomb, despite the ramped-up action and suspense, and resolution of the overarching sci-fi/fantasy storyline. 

My only complaint about this book – about the duology in fact – is that it ends.  Burns had me completely invested throughout, and I am sad that our time with Blaze, River, Elethen, and Laysa is over.  I highly recommend this unusual, superbly written series.  The Elemental Ruins is the crowning glory of a fascinating story arc that takes us on a rollercoaster of a ride.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon