Ruiner is a novel about a world where old ways and new are clashing, with a city that extracts resources from outer territories to benefit some of its citizens, and where disputes are settled via combat storytelling. The two protagonists start far apart, as one is a desert-dweller and another is a street rat, but events and elements in their lives draw them into each other’s arcs. Author Lara Messersmith-Glavin does a great job of drawing characters with rich backgrounds and inner lives. I really enjoyed diving into this world and learning about its people, and the ending definitely left me wanting more.
Kell is a lorist who has loved learning the stories of her desert People. She feels the song of the sacred stones of her People, navigating through their magic, and is disappointed that her brother Jor’s fascination with city techno-toys has weakened his bond with them. She is appalled to hear that the city Soogway has declared it is seizing their mineral resources (the stones) and trading technological baubles for them. Her People decide to send them to Soogway, him to negotiate, and her to act as a combat storyteller if things don’t work out. At first, she believes that all they have to do is state their case clearly, explaining why the stones are important to their People, and the city will give them back.
Shade knows that the city doesn’t care about righteous causes. Shade is an orphan urchin, older than they look due to the smallness of malnourishment but still young enough for hope, saving all they can win or steal to escape the city and return to the Forest whence their parents came. They’re a scrappy street fighter who doesn’t even dream about entering the city’s annual storytelling tournament until a rich guy with a grudge offers training and patronage (but demands loyalty). They don’t like some of the tricks they’re learning, but admits they’re becoming more powerful through them.
So, combat storytelling? Every culture encountered here believes in the power of storytelling. Belief comes easily because a good storyteller can manifest story-spirit magic as creatures that evolve along with the stories. People fight with stories by telling them better than each other, and by using them to make points that undermine each other. If you lose a match, you lose that story, forgetting the words and the emotions behind them, even if it’s a heart story that contains your most cherished memories. So it’s a dangerous game that can leave you a drained husk.
I’ve read numerous books that express the power of stories and belief, but none that I can think of that manifest it in quite this way. The city spoils and strip-mines resources from everything around it to power its magic tech, everything from flashlights to story-familiars that aid the cops, and its main story seems to be “We’re the City so we take what we want,” but many of its inhabitants live in miserable poverty. Shade doesn’t buy what the city is selling, but they’re not a complete cynic and helps younger kids, while telling themself that someday they’ll escape. Traditionalists like Kell and her mentor believe strongly that the old ways and stories are the best, but both of them struggle to convince the tech-curious youngsters of their People of that.
Despite the fact that readers are limited to what protagonists Kell and Shade directly see, hear, and dream, this is a rich world with a lot of interesting sidelights that make me wonder what’s going on that hasn’t been revealed, like the inner thoughts of negotiator Jor, with whom Kell is so impatient, and the plans of Kiche and Silaya, desert dwellers who had conveyed Kell and Jor to Soogway. And there’s a whole other group of people in the city whom I haven’t talked about, because it’s too spoilery.
Also worth mentioning are some very nice erotic scenes between Kell and Silaya, when they first meet and along the journey to the city. They’re immediately drawn to each other, and the sensual descriptions of how they appreciate each other are warm and welcoming.
Completionists should be aware that Ruiner is labeled as Tellers, Book 1, the first in a series; the second is expected in 2027. The climactic battle at the end here has a winner and a loser and definite results, yet nothing is ultimately settled yet in the ongoing cultural conflicts, and we don’t know what’s happened to a couple of important non-POV characters. It really does feel like an opener in a longer story, not a complete tale in itself. But I want to see how the protagonists keep evolving, and what’s going on with their friends, and what happens in this world; this epic series is a journey that I’ll happily follow.
Ruiner, by Lara Messersmith-Glavin, will be published March 31, 2026. The author previously won an award for Spirit Things, “A collection of essays exploring the secret histories, myths, and science of objects on a fishing boat in Alaska.”
Content warnings: Ecological destruction and resource extraction; remembered deaths of parents; implied threats to children.
Disclaimer: I received a free eARC of this book for review.
