Quantcast
Ruins by Joshua Winning book review: the Sentinels are back - SciFiNow

Ruins by Joshua Winning book review: the Sentinels are back

Joshua Winning released the second instalment in the Sentinel trilogy, Ruins

There’s no time to waste as the second instalment of The Sentinel Trilogy blasts us back into the world of young Nicholas Hallow, newly discovered guardian and chosen one of the trinity. Aided by his trusty companions, Isabel, reincarnated in the form of a black (talking) cat and Sam, the aging, but ninja warrior-worthy ass kicker.

Their mission is to find the other ‘chosen one’ before she is found by Laurent, the latest bad guy in town with a seriously twisted plan to ruin the world.

The plot’s darkness intensifies rapidly as Nicholas is drawn to the unassuming town of Bury St Edmonds, nothing more than a school with seven murdered teachers to see here.

Oh, and it may well be the home of Snelling, the vicious ‘harvester’ that attempted to put an end to the Sentinels in the first book, aptly named Sentinel. We should also mention the creepy blonde fellow that keeps appearing, leaving devastation in his wake.

Author Joshua Winning has cranked up the villainy another notch as he introduces the loathsome Laurent, a man so wicked he makes Harry Potter’s Lord Voldemort look like a fairy godmother. There are some devilish similarities between the two characters.

However, Laurent’s bloodline-protection methods have a far sicker edge to them, and his sidekicks are much scarier than a rat and a snake.

Nicholas, as hoped, continues to mature nicely, the addition of several new teenage characters helping to keep him grounded and allow him the space to be defined by more than the fate of his birth, of which he gradually learns the truth.

With more pace than Usain Bolt, Ruins leaves no room for a breather as it charges from one intense situation to another. This is a cracking filling for what has the potential to be a very tasty trilogy.