Rage & Ruin by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Rating: 4.75/5 🌟

Rage and Ruin summary and review:

Rage and Ruin is the highly anticipated sequel to Jennifer L. Armentrout’s incredibly successful Storm & Fury. *I highly recommend reading the Dark Elements series first as this is a spinoff*.

Rage & Ruin picks up right where Storm and Fury left off with gargoyle Zayne, now the bonded protector of  half-human/half angel, Trinity now tasked with finding out who or what the Harbinger and what it wants. As Trinity struggles with the guilt and heartache of her best friend’s ultimate betrayal and the Harbinger killing Wardens & Demons in sight , she must also fight her forbidden feelings for her beloved Warden protector. 

As the lines between good and evil continue to blur, old foes become friends and allies to find a common enemy. One they will never expect. 

*Spoilers from Storm & Fury & Rage & Ruin ahead* 

Okay guys but for real guys this book had me in all the feels.

Trinity’s pain & guilt over killing Misha

“Ending Misha’s life hadn’t hurt me. It quite possibly had killed a part of me, replacing it with a seemingly bottomless pit of sour bitterness and raw anger”. (Pg 15)

The sort-of-ish love triangle between Trinity, Layla and Stacey

I know like me you were all thinking the Stacey? But ya’ll saw this coming at the end of S&F right? Some of those scenes were so cringe worthy but ugh! honestly relatable. ESPECIALLY THE ICE SCREAM SHOP SCENE because if you know, you know.

The rage that begins to consume Trinity as she begins to tap more into her angelic grace.

“She had been no real threat to my safety. Plus, I’d goaded her and then some, and …if I was being honest with myself, serving retribution felt good.…Roth’s parting words had been powerful but pointless, because I didn’t feel an ounce of guilt. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to or not, and If I was, I didn’t know what that said about me. Or what I was capable of”.(Pg 242)

Moving Forward…

I am not going to lie, the conflict between Zayne & Trinity was frustrating to say the least

but honestly soooo realistic! Where there is new found love, there is bound to be old love pain. Because love is beautiful but love is also messy. Like REAL messy. Or as Zayne would simply say: 

But when those two were good, they FLOURISHED

While there were times when I really wanted to criticize Trinity’s selfish tendencies and lack of maturity when it came to Zayne’s and her situation-ships, I had to remind myself that Trinity was pretty sheltered. There’s no handbook on how to cope with falling in love with someone who has a past with two women who are very much present in his life. I also feel like she’s never had to take a lot of accountability for her actions. Though Zayne sometimes acted like a complete douche bag , I appreciated the times he confronted Trinity over her assumptions and unpreparedness. Trinity needed that tough love.

That being said, I do think that some of those scenes overshadowed how incredibly BRAVE she is. Though she still struggles with her degenerative eye disease (Retinitis pigmentosa) she shows a willingness to be trained to fight within the perimeters of her worst nightmare: being completely blind so that she isn’t more vulnerable to unknown danger. Even so, she never hesitates to hunt demons down across dark roof tops, or jump feet first into dark haunted zombie ridden pools (that scene was so badass) and only displays strength and humor when she finally faces the Harbinger and tries to convince him that his plan to obliterate humanity is nonsense and down right egotistical in the sassiest way possible, “You want to end Earth and Heaven because you got fired from being God’s hype machine”? (Pg 569). 😂 She’s hilarious.

Though I wanted to strangle him sometimes, I must admit Zayne really shines in this sequel. We all know he’s been through A LOT but I applaud his ability to put his feelings aside to fulfill his duties as Trinity’s protector and be there for his friends. Zayne is thoughtful, incredibly selfless and has a heart of gold.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the many characters work together despite any animosity that still lingered. Roth and Zayne’s relationship development was so fun to read and I just have to give the Crown Prince of Hell a special shout out for how quickly and awesomely he embraced Trinity. I have so much respect for how he encouraged Trinity to show no fear and embrace her powers just like he did with Layla (selfish intentions be damned). Also, how amazing was it to see BAMBI back?!!

Armentrout delivers another heart wrenching and kickass book in the Harbinger series that will make you want to scream in frustration, cry (a lot), and holler “Yessssss” all in one. I cannot wait for the third and final installment of the series but honestly I don’t think I’m emotionally ready for it either. I’M MEAN DID YA’LL READ THE LAST LINE?! This was my reaction: