ABOUT THE BOOK
young adult science fiction published by Simon & Schuster on 1 October 2013
first book in the The Internment Chronicles series
On Internment, the floating island in the clouds where 15-year-old Morgan Stockhour lives, getting too close to the edge can lead to madness. Even though Morgan’s older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. She tries her best not to mind that her life is orderly and boring, and if she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in best friend Pen and her betrothed, Basil.
THE RATING
THE REVIEW
The people of Internment were banished from the earth by the God of the sky and forced to live in a floating island over the ground. Living in such a place, it is only inevitable that those without absolute faith risk questioning everything. Why are they all mated at birth? Why are there queues if you want to start a family? Why only the Furlows are royals? Questions Morgan would be better off not knowing the answers to.
But then Daphne Leander is murdered. Supposedly after she wrote a controversial essay on Intangible Gods; snippets of which start each chapter in the book. The essay fuels Morgan’s curiosity; taking over her tinted beliefs which she developed after Lex, her brother, jumped off the edge of Internment and almost died.
I get it. I get the desire to want to walk right over the edge of the world, to dream about disappearing into the unknown. But something is always stopping us. Whether it’s our conscience or the need to be normal. Morgan knows she has to be the saner child but when she encounters Judas, it’s like she has found her purpose in life. First, her passivity oozed from the pages and then her beliefs are stripped away fully in a shocking realization but she’s just… okay with it all.
‘Now, when I think I should be crying, all I can think of is the ground.’
It’s no wonder that I wanted to shake Morgan into oblivion after that. Her world is crumbling in front of her and all she can think about is running away still. Yes, she is selfish, flawed and unsure of herself but all of it is to the point that it makes me question if she really is that dumb. Unfathomable.
Basil, her betrothed, is clearly devoted to her while Pen, her best friend, is the complete opposite of Morgan. Her mother copes with her depression by cooking excessively for her children while, her father is burdened with his job as a patrolman. Lex, her brother, is too preoccupied with chasing his demons away by writing about them and Alice, his wife, has accepted to live life as Internment has chosen for her to live.
Despite all the eyebrow-raising questions and the history behind the island and the God of Internment, Perfect Ruin fell short. Catching all those glimpses of Daphne in her essay and reading about Judas’ closed off personality, I so wish that the book was written from her point of view. I really would have loved it then. I can’t help but think that Morgan is undeserving of the ending in the book. But hey, we can’t have everything now can we.
THE QUOTES
‘Time was our very first king. We all live our lives to the aggressive ticking of the clock. We don’t question that our lives are a grid of seconds; even our pulses oblige. No succeeding king can hope to hold this kind of power.’
‘People die, and everything they’ve ever said just echoes around and around. There’s nothing new. Only the same nonsense from their lives.’
Yeah, I had high hopes for this one, but really, I only liked the first book in the Chemical Garden trilogy, so I was also prepared for it to not be as good as I hoped. Meh. We'll see about reading the next one … maybe it'll be more exciting.
What a shame. The concept of the floating island sounds great and full of potential. I hate it when the characters ruin a book.
Ahhh, I should’ve made a “ruin” pun too. The book was far from perfect. It was just a messy ruin. ;D
I love that your review is extremely thoughtful and to the point. My review is all over the place, ranting about Morgan because that girl, UGHHHHH. (Somebody stop me from tearing her hair off.) She has such a strange reaction to things such as the thing you said about her learning about what’s really going on and her carelessness of her loved one’s lives when she leaves the confines of the you-know-what. Yeah, Morgan, you’re not concerned about your own safety, but Lex and Alice and Basil? What if they got caught when you left?
SANA, TELL ME WHY SHE DIDN’T INVESTIGATE/PROVE THAT JUDAS WAS INNOCENT??? She just fed him food. THAT’S IT. How is that proving his innocence? (I get so mad thinking about how she didn’t do anything. Sure, there are a lot of passive people in the world, but when something big happens, they would investigate it.)
I WISH THE BOOK WAS WRITTEN IN DAPHNE’S POV TOO. I find myself having a lot of feelings for her even though we don’t really meet her on the account that she’s dead. Anybody is better than Morgan, lbr.
Eek, I missed your review! I'll go read it right after this.
When she was leaving that place, I was like 'No. No, no. NO.' And then guess what happened? I can't even with her. What selfishness.
'She just fed him food.' Ha ha, that's about right. But I also want to know why did she not do something about Judas. Dude, he's obviously not safe and even he's confused as to why you're trying to chat with him.
I was just thinking that since the series is titled The Internment Chronicles, so maybe we'll get a different POV for the other books. I really hope so 'cause reading from Morgan's POV is HARD.
I just found your blog and I think its very well designed. Also, I checked out some of your reviews. I think you right really well. Some of the books you've reviewed are on my reading list as well and it was great to know your views about them.
About this particular review- the book sounds interesting from the description but I understand how some characters ruin the book! Characters are extremely important to a book along with the plot and somehow when both of them fall short, there's nothing that saves a book. A very good review!
I also have a little book blog, if you'd like to check it out- http://literaturemartini.blogspot.in/
No pun intended ey haha 😉
Dang it and I was really looking forward to reading this book too. Sounds like the main character was just way too flawed. It's always disappointing when a crappy MC ruins a book. Sigh.
Out of curiosity though, if you've read it, did you enjoy Wither? Because I think Lauren DeStefano is one of those authors that inspires a lot of mixed reviews. Maybe there's just something about her writing style…don't know.