Review: Rage & Ruin by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Rage & Ruin

Jennifer L. Armentrout

(The Harbinger #2)

Publication Date: June 9, 2020

Hardcover, 576 pages, Inkyard Press

Genres: YA, Paranormal

Goodreads

A half human, half angel and her bonded gargoyle protector must work with demons to stop the apocalypse while avoiding falling in love. The Harbinger is coming…but who or what is it? All of humankind may fall if Trinity and Zayne can’t win the race against time as dark forces gather.

As tensions rise, they must stay close together and patrol the DC streets at night, seeking signs of the Harbinger, an entity that is killing Wardens and demons with no seeming rhyme or reason. Forbidden to be with each other, Zayne and Trinity fight their feelings and turn to unusual sources for help—the demon Roth and his cohorts. But as deaths pile up and they uncover a sinister plot involving the local high school and endangering someone dear to Zayne, Trin realizes she is being led…herded…played for some unknown end. As anger builds and feelings spiral out of control, it becomes clear that rage may be the ruin of them all.

My Review

I am in love with this world. The idea that gargoyles fight demons on the orders of angels is fascinating, and it hasn’t gotten boring yet, despite this being the fifth book in the overall series. Plus, these covers are sooo pretty, and I have a feeling I know the design for book three’s cover after that crazy ending. If I’m right, it’s going to be B-E-A-UTIFUL.

I’m going to step away from my adoration of both the physical beauty and the world-building of this story to talk about the characters. I really love Trinity. In Storm & Fury, I liked her, but in this book, I just found myself enjoying her growth more. She’s in the process of shaking off some major baggage, and it was fun to read about. I do wish her jokes weren’t so corny, though. As for Zayne, he’s a good love interest. He’s not my favorite JLA guy (those spots are reserved for Roth and Daemon Black), but I appreciate him so much more in this trilogy than in the Dark Elements.

A new bad guy was introduced in Rage & Ruin. While I thought his character was good for the plot of the story, I do kind of wish we’d gotten more character development for him. He had such potential in this book to be a really awesome contrast to Trinity and the gang.

Now, my major complaint was the lack of Roth. Yes, he makes appearances, but they didn’t really fix my withdrawal. Roth is such a cool character. He’s a freakin’ demon prince! But he never seems to be utilized well. What’s the point of his powers if he rarely utilizes them and can’t even use them against the baddies?! I truly hope JLA has some tricks up her sleeve when it comes to his character, ‘cause right now, he’s not doing a lot. I recognize that this spinoff isn’t about Layla and Roth, but, again, Roth is supposed to be powerful, and I’m just not seeing it in these books. It reminds me of how weak Daemon Black is starting to look in the Lux spinoff series now that Luc is the love interest. It disappoints me when the characters I fell in love with in the first books becomes a shell of what they were in the spinoffs. I’m still crossing my fingers JLA can mend this for me. (*Begs JLA in the language of an obsessed fangirl.*)

While this story overall was fast-paced and a fun, romantic, action-packed read, when I look back, it seems like not a lot actually happened. It’s 600 pages of a lot of romantic tension and little else. I’m not complaining. I like romance and long books, but I could see it being fifty or so pages shorter and the reader still wouldn’t miss much. Also, the final chapters were a tad rushed; though, I like where the plot of book three seems to be going.

All in all, this was a great JLA addition to my ever-growing collection, but I didn’t love it as much as Storm & Fury. I’m excited to see how everything wraps up. I’m desperately hoping for more Roth. And I’m ready to see what I think is going to be a GORGEOUS cover for book three.

*Note: I purchased a copy of this book myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.