A Review of Bright Ruined Things
The only life Mae has ever known is on the island, living on the charity of the wealthy Prosper family who control the island’s magic and its spirits. Mae longs for magic of her own and to have a place among the Prosper family, where her best friend, Coco, will see her as an equal, and her crush, Miles, will finally see her. But tonight is First Night, when the Prospers and their high-society friends celebrate the night Lord Prosper first harnessed the island’s magic and started producing aether – a magical fuel source that has revolutionized the world. With everyone returning to the island, Mae finally has the chance to go after what she’s always wanted.
Plot
Bright Ruined Things is an adaptation of Shakespear’’s The Tempest. While there are some obvious deviations from the source material, it goes generally follows the plot of the original story. The story has excellent tension and kept me on my toes, with plenty of mysteries and twists. But there are a few areas that I wish the plot would have explored further, but due to the limitations of the story taking place in one day, wasn’t possible.
Characters
Mae is the main character of the story and she’s so meek and unassuming that she’s known to other characters as “Mousy Mae”. But she goes through a great development arc throughout the book. We also meet many of the other members of the Prosper family, who in general are spoiled and unthoughtful people, but the author does a great job of hiding their ugliness in different ways. Due to the limitations of the time of the story, I did question Mae’s romantic developments, but the author is great at writing Mae’s chemistry with other characters so I was willing to overlook that unrealistic progression of their relationship.
Setting
The book takes place almost elusively on the island that Prosper family settled, so our view of the world is limited. Despite this, I felt completely settled into the world after the first few chapters. The world is inspired by 1920s England and is not stated outright but felt through the author’s descriptions of the technology, fashion, and characters. Additionally, the magic system was intriguing though missing some details that would have made it easier to understand.
My Recommendation
Bright Ruined Things is Samantha Cohoe’s second Young Adult historical fantasy novel. The book has a surprising and tension-filling plot, but due to the story having to take place within one day some elements of the plot and characters weren’t able to be explored as much as I would have preferred. The author did a beautiful job fleshing out the world and showing the time and place of the book without forcing it on the reader. Bright Ruined Things is available on Tuesday, February 15th, 2022.
