Ruinous Ends by I. V. Marie Review: A High-Stakes Dark Fantasy Sequel

Ruinous Ends picks up directly after the Decennial — the deadly competition at the heart of the first novel — and widens the lens considerably. With the tournament over, six former pupils of the supernatural institution known as Blackwood Academy find themselves responsible for its future: August, Emilio, Irene, Masika, Olivier, and Wren, each aligned with one of three factions dedicated either to defending or destroying purgatory's Blackwood Academy. The novel's central engine is a buried secret — one so significant, the publisher's own synopsis warns, that when it finally surfaces it will "shake the institution to its core." The afterlife itself hangs in the balance, raising the stakes well beyond a typical school-set fantasy and positioning this installment as the structural midpoint of a planned trilogy.

Marie's debut, Immortal Consequences, was described by its publisher as a "viral dark fantasy sensation," and the sequel arrives carrying that momentum in measurable form: a #1 New York Times bestseller designation and selection as a Good Morning America YA Book Club Pick. The series is published under Random House Children's Books, a division of Penguin Random House, and Ruinous Ends is the second of three planned books — with author I. V. Marie, born to a Peruvian mother and Chilean father in Miami, also having written the companion novella Twisted Vo within the same fictional universe. Together, these works establish the Souls of Blackwood Academy as one of the more prominent dark fantasy YA series currently in progress.

One of the series' distinguishing structural choices — established in book one and carried forward here — is its ensemble design. The six leads represent a range of racial and sexual identities, and they are sorted into romantic pairings that critical coverage notes give "readers plenty of chances to pick favorite couples or characters." Marie moves these relationships through what critical coverage describes as "steamy passages and waves of intense feelings," culminating in a climactic reunion amid battle, with individual arcs resolving across a tonal spectrum from tragic to uplifting. This multi-ship approach is a deliberate appeal to readers who invest in character-driven romance alongside supernatural conflict — a hallmark of YA fandom culture — and it appears to be one of the book's primary engines of engagement.

critical coverage identifies a genuine craft limitation: Marie's prose "sometimes flatlines," citing a representative passage — "She saw the apathy in Irene's glowing eyes, the unwavering determination" — as an example of writing that tells emotional states rather than rendering them with precision. For readers drawn primarily to sentence-level craft or literary YA with a strong stylistic voice, this is a real friction point. The emotional ambition of the novel's climax and its multi-character arcs are not always matched by the sharpness of the writing that carries them. This is a specific, sourced critique rather than a systemic failure, but it is worth flagging for readers with high prose expectations.

Designed for readers aged 14 and up, Ruinous Ends is squarely aimed at fans of dark fantasy YA with romantic ensemble casts, supernatural world-building rooted in afterlife mythology, and the kind of faction-based conflict that rewards investment across multiple volumes. Readers who came to Immortal Consequences for its cast diversity, its purgatorial setting, and its blend of high-stakes action with romantic tension will find those elements amplified here. Those new to the series should begin with Immortal Consequences, as this volume builds directly on established character loyalties and the events of the Decennial. As a #1 New York Times bestseller and a major book-club selection, it has clearly connected with its target audience at scale.