I listened to this entire trilogy on audiobook and loved the narrator. The story also grew on me as I went along so I'm in two minds about the ending - partly, I suppose, because I didn't really want the story to end. Ruins is the final installment of the series as I understand it. Overall, it's a wonderful book in terms of plot, characterization, story development etc. There's a LOT of characters to keep track of and Wells manages to give ALL the key characters a fully resolved story arc which is a masterful feat. He writes in shifting third person point of view but it's never distracting, and the narrator of the audiobooks does a wonderful job in differentiating the voices, including doing a good job with male voices which can be tough for a female reader.
My one criticism of the final book would be that there's a lot of philosophical chin-wagging, probably a little more than necessary for my taste. While the series is obviously largely about the kinds of sacrifices we can, or should be prepared to, make in order to "save the world", some of the issues in this book (I think more so than in the first and second books) are presented in "talking heads" style dialogue between characters, and the conversations become a bit repetitive. There's a lot of conversations about: "How far would you go to save the species/save the world/ensure a future for the planet?"
The book also covers a lot of physical ground with bands of characters traversing the country and the cities in order to achieve their goals. I would get close to saying there's too much going on in this respect, although it's never difficult to follow. But at times I did wonder how the heck we were ever going to get to a resolution of the story with so much going on, including the introduction of several major mysterious new characters.
In fairness, Wells DOES conclude the story in a satisfactory manner and ties up all of the loose ends. He gives a sense of a directed, if shaky, future for the planet which is well in keeping with the story.
Wells is obviously a master of spinning a complex tale and constructing detailed and touching narratives for all of his characters. I grew to really enjoy this series and to feel strongly for all the characters. So I'm a Wells fan now undoubtedly. I highly recommend the audio versions of all of these books in particular because the narration is really top notch.
My one criticism of the final book would be that there's a lot of philosophical chin-wagging, probably a little more than necessary for my taste. While the series is obviously largely about the kinds of sacrifices we can, or should be prepared to, make in order to "save the world", some of the issues in this book (I think more so than in the first and second books) are presented in "talking heads" style dialogue between characters, and the conversations become a bit repetitive. There's a lot of conversations about: "How far would you go to save the species/save the world/ensure a future for the planet?"
The book also covers a lot of physical ground with bands of characters traversing the country and the cities in order to achieve their goals. I would get close to saying there's too much going on in this respect, although it's never difficult to follow. But at times I did wonder how the heck we were ever going to get to a resolution of the story with so much going on, including the introduction of several major mysterious new characters.
In fairness, Wells DOES conclude the story in a satisfactory manner and ties up all of the loose ends. He gives a sense of a directed, if shaky, future for the planet which is well in keeping with the story.
Wells is obviously a master of spinning a complex tale and constructing detailed and touching narratives for all of his characters. I grew to really enjoy this series and to feel strongly for all the characters. So I'm a Wells fan now undoubtedly. I highly recommend the audio versions of all of these books in particular because the narration is really top notch.
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