Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Ruins: A Dystopian Society in a Post-Apocalyptic World (The Ruins Series Book 1)

Top positive review

The Ruins: A Living World, with Real Life Characters.

Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2017

Well written dystopian tales. The world Piperbook has created is very real, his characters are fully comprehensive people. The disaster that ended the world as we know it, while apparently atomic, is so far back in their history that it is mythic. Set in a dark age, life is short and hard, and the only monsters are human mutants eventually explained as a scientific discovery gone wrong. So what's new there? A follow up to the Survivor series, it continues Walter's quest, with his companions from the ancient city, through the ruins of their world, taking you along as a willing participant. This series lives.

13 people found this helpful

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L. Pajot

Decent premise, cliffhanger ending makes it a 2 star. I won't pay over $1 for a serial.

Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2018

Title says it all. I hate hate hate cliffhanger blackmail. Make a book complete in and of it's self, and I will pay for the next books in a series, IF each is complete. Future books can flesh out the world, the complete overarching world view, but NO cliffhangers!

14 people found this helpful

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From the United States

Jed K

Good, but not as good as the Last Survivors series.

Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2017

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Why only three stars? (No spoilers here... I think)
The book by itself was pretty good, but it follows the The Last Survivors series which was just amazing. I really liked that series. People are writing that you have to read that series first to understand this series, but I don't think that is totally true. It doesn't take long to understand what is going on. One thing that was great about the first series was the multiple threads all running at the same time. This book has just one thread, which is the travels of our main three characters. Nothing else is going on along side of that story until near the end.

About the characters:
There isn't much of a relationship between the two adults. They care for each other but they don't even trust each other; there is not sexual tension between them. It's hard to root for them as a team trying to survive. You do care about young William but he's not used much in this story. (His time seems like it will come in later books).

About the town:
There is no question things are not as nice as they seem. T.W. Piperbrook makes the people of the town so amazingly nice, that you just know it's not possible. (Otherwise the story would be over) Something is going to happen. Towards the end of the book, you start to see some of those cracks in that perfect town.

About the ending (no spoilers)..
It's not that much of a cliff hanger like it's trying to be. It seems more like a break in the multi-book story.

About the guns:
This is a complaint that goes back to even the original series.
300 years after the fall of the most of mankind and the country with 350 million guns, now calls guns tech magic. The one person who is a gun expert comes from England where they have no guns. That doesn't seem likely. It's more likely every remaining American would be carrying at least one gun. This is not really explained well.

4 people found this helpful

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WaltG

More like half a book

Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2017

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I enjoyed the series that leaf to this book and looked forward to reading this. The story itself is entertaining, but I felt a bit let down by the length of the book and how the plot was never really advanced beyond the one storyline.

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Put it this way...... ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2017

Verified Purchase

Put it this way......... l had no trouble putting it down!!
An almost pleasant read.
Dont worry TW, lm still going to buy book 2.

One person found this helpful

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Mariah

Slow to start but it picks up in the end ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2017

Verified Purchase

Slow to start but it picks up in the end just in time to cut off with a cliff hanger😑

2 people found this helpful

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C. Dellinger

Three Stars

Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2016

Verified Purchase

Not as good as earlier series.

One person found this helpful

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Mike

Good "sequel" to the previous series.

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2016

Verified Purchase

If you read Piperbrook's series with Bobby Adair, then you'll love this "sequel". Nothing really surprising in this book, it seems to be more or less setting up the characters for what is to come in subsequent installments. You can crank through this book in a couple of hours, it is more of a short-story than a novel.

My only complaint is the writing lacks depth.

Do not expect to get the literary prose you would get from, say, Clancy or Martin. The writing level is more juvenile, geared to, oh, about an 8th grade reading level.

The chapters are short -- sometimes a single page long -- and not very detailed. The plot is fairly superficial.

Has the ability to get a great series... I hope Piperbrook's writing improves over time.

2 people found this helpful

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R Johnes

A slow burner.

Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2016

I have to admit I'm actually a fan of this setting and thoroughly enjoyed the previous series, and felt there was so much more that could be done within the premise, so I didn't hesitate in pre-ordering this book. However I also have to admit I was disappointed with this start to what I still hope will be a great series. Normally Mr Piperbrook keeps the story moving at pace with sufficient details for you to truly feel for the characters. I already had bought into the 3 main characters in this book but felt like I had to read a whole book to set the scene for the next saga, and that's what disappointed me. I waited along time for this book and felt like slightly robbed of a gripping read.

The book tells the story of a new settlement while hinting at so many others and potential secrets and twists, but did we really need a whole book to do this? The inevitable cliff hanger at the end meant I have already pre-ordered once more, so that should tell you the standard of writing is good.

If you want a one off hit this isn't for you, but if you are prepared to go all in to this series then I'm confident you won't be disappointed.

One person found this helpful

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T. Dressler

Agonizingly Slow

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2017

I enjoyed the original Last Survivor series, but found this first in The Ruins series to be agonizingly slow, as if the entirety of this books were nothing more than an introduction. Not sure if I'll bother with the remainder of the series... but perhaps once new books come out on audio book, as something to occupy my mind while doing mindless tasks at work.

One person found this helpful

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Izzybee

A little slow

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2019

I liked the last survivors series and I was excited to continue the journey, but this book was kind of boring. I will try the next one since I like the characters and hope it picks up.

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VAM

Worthwhile Read

Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2017

A little slow, but the story should pick up in volume 2 now that the backstory has been established. Hopefully there will be more action, and some romance wouldn't hurt.

One person found this helpful

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