Ruination

A League of Legends Novel

By: Anthony Reynolds

Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin, Misty Lee, Sean J. Teale, Mara Junot, Mark Oliver, Dave B. Mitchell, Scott McNeil, Carol Valença, André Sogliuzzo, Debra Wilson, Steve French, Lisa Lindsley, full cast

Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

This audiobook features dramatized audio performances by a full cast–featuring some your favorite Riot voices!

Discover an epic tale of magic, revenge, and an empire on the verge of ruin in the first ever novel set in the blockbuster universe of League of Legends.

Camavor is a brutal land with a bloody legacy. Where the empire’s knights go, slaughter follows.

Kalista seeks to change that. When her young and narcissistic uncle, Viego, becomes king, she vows to temper his destructive instincts, as his loyal confidant, advisor, and military general. But her plans are thwarted when an assassin’s poisoned blade strikes Viego’s wife, Isolde, afflicting her with a malady for which there is no cure.

As Isolde’s condition worsens, Viego descends into madness and grief, threatening to drag Camavor down with him. Kalista makes a desperate gambit to save the kingdom: she searches for the long lost Blessed Isles, rumored to hold the queen’s salvation, if only Kalista can find them.

But corruption grows in the Blessed Isles’ capital, where a vengeful warden seeks to ensnare Kalista in his cruel machinations. She will be forced to choose between her loyalty to Viego and doing what she knows is right–for even in the face of utter darkness, one noble act can shine a light that saves the world.

©2022 Riot Games. (P)2022 by Hachette Audio and Riot Games, Inc.

It’s an origin story.

I enjoyed league of legends when I was younger and I enjoy its lore and media today. I can say with certainty that this book was worth it.
It was a written as an origin story with such origins in mind, with many references to the characters of league of legends, which all felt rewarding, but only as someone who has played the game and understands the lore. Only a vague knowledge of the lore is needed to understand some of the references, and I believe that someone without any knowledge of league of legends would enjoy this story.
The tone did a good job of promising and foreshadowing the inevitable end of the book, which anyone who knows LoL lore will see coming, and did this in a way that made me want to get to the ending regardless of knowing the outcome.
The characters were interesting and dynamic, with their arcs mostly fulfilled across the board. This is what made the book feel less like an origin story and more like an actual story, but with the external knowledge that I do have, I can’t help but feel like this still is an origin story. While that hasn’t detracted from the experience, it has been distracting when trying to think critically about the novel.

Fantastic

The story really fleshes out characters and the fact they use the voice actors from the LoL game makes this a fun listen.

Loved it!

I will always enjoy listening to a male author who writes women as fully realized, real human beings. The story was adventurous and the characters well-rounded. The narrators were fantastic. I can’t wait for the next book in the series!

A Fantastic Tale!

I know nothing of League of Legends lore and backstory, but this was an amazing story and production. A truly fantastic production to listen to and so addictive. Any fans of fantasy and magic will love this story, so do yourself a favor and give it a listen.

Absolutely fantastic.

A damn fine story worth the listen especially. Each of the main characters all have their own fantastic voice actors which makes the book all the better. If you’re an LoL fan, and like Kalista especially, this is your book. As well as for Thresh, Hecareim, and Veago fans.

Amazing Book Ahead

If you were looking for a good Ruination lore Book , then here it is.

Amazing

The writing was fantastic, as well as the voice acting. The blend of the league of legends world was great.

Amazing!

I was never a fan of the Shadow Isles in lore or the in-game characters, I also clowned on the Ruination Event like every other league fan, but this book made me fall in love with everything about this aspect of LoL, I’m reinstalling the PS4 game now!

Great Story, Okay Writing

As a huge fan of league of legends I couldn’t wait for this book. I preordered the Physical copy and used an audible credit for the audiobook. I would listen to it again in the future and will read the hardback. I think the writing is good but comes off as someone newer to the art form. They painted a beautiful story and I look forward to reading more of their work and seeing how they progress. Would suggest, 10/10

Another "new to me" author

I came into this book with absolutely NO idea that this book was based on a video game. In fact, after I learned that, I still have no clue who or what League of Legends is. Did that make a difference for me while reading the book? I don't think so. The world building was done well enough and the development of the main characters was done so that I FELT like I had an understanding of who was who and what was going on.

This is a fantasy book that apparently is like the prequel to the above video game. It tells the players "how" the things occurred to get them to the place they are in the game (again, I'm just guessing this by some of the reviews I read and I could be wrong about that). Regardless, the book itself has a completed story arc and a small epilogue to let the reader know (kind of) what the results were years later for the events that happened in the climax of the book. That part - said events - I wish were explained a little better. I mean, I got the gist of it, but it was still fairly confusing to me.

The reason I selected this book was that it was the Audible "Book of the Day" one day and it was narrated by a "Full Cast". The summary sounded interesting. I recognized the main male narrator's voice - can't remember the name off of the top of my head, but he did a great job. The other parts were a kind of hit or miss. Some of the narrators did the unfortunate job of pulling me out of the story.

Regardless, I enjoyed the story and am actually curious to know what ends up happening in the future with certain characters that I ended up liking - Kalista, Ledros, Ryze...etc. Unfortunately, I do not play video games so maybe there will be a follow up book. Nah, probably not since I just realized that the second book is apparently the game.