‘The priests want me to thank God, but the only thing I pray for is death.’There is nothing before Eden. Just flashes of a time before Danielle woke up in chains, in hell, to be violated and broken.Over, and over, and over.They say that God honors those who serve, that each baptism is a gift, but all Danielle wants is to die.Eden has other plans.
Reign of Ruin
By jenniferbene
This is not happy. This is not light. There is no happy in this world and definitely no light. This is Jennifer Bene’s Eden, and it is definitely not where Adam and Eve hung out.
This book is post-apocalyptic, dystopian, and frightening af. The world that Danielle has found herself is in terrifying just because anything extreme can be scary, but the fact that it is so targeted at women makes it just plain OMFG, no.
I like Danielle. I think that she has to be strong in order to have survived everything that she’s survived, and let me tell you, none of it was nice at all. She’s spent who knows how many years living in the bowels of Eden, which may actually be the antechamber of Hell.
The idea of the baptisms and what she has to go through to get to them is just the worst thing ever. I mean, she knows that she’s going to go through hell every time she wakes up there, and she’s unmarked. I would pray for death too, if I were her.
I loved this book. I loved the world. I’m really, really, really glad that I don’t live in it. I’m also really, really, really glad that Jennifer Bene was willing to go visiting to give it to us.
Very dark, very depraved and exceptionally drawing. Reign Of Ruin is one of those books that sucks your mind into, aptly enough, hell and keeps you held there at the mercy of the author’s words and your own imagination. This book is NOT for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, but there is SO much potential here to develop Danielle and her demon further, I hope the author has plans to bring them to life again.
The Day The Sky Burned (the end of the book) was ridiculously thought-provoking and I found myself comparing it to much of how the world is turning today. Again, the author has given herself a lot of playroom with that short explanation of how Danielle’s current world came to be, and I hope she takes advantage of every route in this dystopian hell.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher/author to review.
There is nothing before Eden. Just flashes of a time before Danielle woke up in chains, to be violated and broken. Over and over, and over. They say that God honors those who serve that each baptism is a gift, but all Danielle wants is to die. But Eden has other plans.
If you read The Day the Sky Burned before Reign of Ruin you will know that backstory of Danielle and her family and how she comes to be in Eden. It is in the back of the book and I would recommend reading it first then starting Reign of Ruin. The world as everyone knows it changed the day the sky started to burn. Politician and Priest alike blame it on Eve from the Garden of Eden and how she ate the apple God told them no to eat. Danielle finds herself in Eden which is where women and girls are taken. I don’t know how I feel about the ending of this book and It is killing me to have no one to discuss it with but I like to think of it as a happy ending or as happy as it can be. This is a book filled with abuse and a misuse of Priests powers but then there is a power that is just mind blowing. This book is so good. I read it in one sitting. I so hope that Jennifer Bene decides to write more in this world and to this series.
Sweet Holy Titfire
Be warned there is no happily ever after in this story. It is hard to read. This is like the Handmaid’s Tale but on an extreme level.
I am sitting here rubbing my forehead as I try and come up with the words to describe what I just read. This book is newly expanded from the previous version that was released in the Twisted Sacrament Anthology. When I read it the first time I both wanted and didn’t want it (if that even makes sense) to give me a glimpse of more so that I knew what it all meant. Well, the author finally did it and wrote a very detailed epilogue as well as included the prequel (The Day the Sky Burned) at the end. I almost read the prequel first but am glad that I didn’t because it made some of the new “memories” make even more sense. It, also, made the story even more horrifying when it could easily happen in today’s world.
This is horror at its best. Even wanting the story to end so that the heroine, Danielle, could finally find peace from the atrocities I was completely under the spell of the author and wanted to know more. The entire time I read this book I had my hand over my chest, much the same way I would if I was watching a horror film. As a woman, hell, just as a human, this left my heart breaking.
There is so much to this book and it makes me question if there is a higher purpose to this world in which we live. Is there truly heaven and hell? Does religion make us safe from good and evil? I have to wonder because whether a person is morally bankrupt has nothing to do with religion. Some of the best people don’t believe in God and some of the worst also say that they are Christian. It makes me wonder.
This story stayed with me for months after I read it the first time but now adding in that extra 20k of words it made this story become so much more. I was surprised how often I would remember certain things this author wrote down in regards to this story and I see that happening again with having read this new version and prequel. That is the mark of a good story. Even when it pushes someone out of their comfort zone if it leaves its mark and causes moments of introspection. I live for those stories no matter how uncomfortable the topic is.
WOW!!!! Do not take this lightly their is absolutely no happiness as we follow Danielle through Eden with evil vile so called Priests and Cardinals who put this poor girl through everything torturous your mind can come up with, Danielle is so strong to endure what is literally happening to her to even survive is a miracle in itself and we also get the prequel The Day The Sky Burned on how it all started which I absolutely loved, it sheds a lot of information on the story your about to devour.
This story just sucks you right into this world and has your mind spinning and a whole lot of OMG’S!!! no way but yes way its happening, its so picture perfect and detailed and the last few chapters had my nerves going haywire not having a clue what was going to happen next and I really hope there is going to be more in the future. There’s no prayers strong enough to fix this.
In “Reign of Ruin” by Jennifer Bene, I found myself wanting to crawl into the fetal position as I felt (figuratively, people) each horrific blow to Danielle. AND, I couldn’t stop reading. Partly out of intense fascination and partly because if I put it down, I wouldn’t be able to think of anything else until I picked it back up again. So with that mindset, I kept reading and holy cardinal cassocks, it got better and better until the idea of good and evil blended into something so far more animalistic that it was a relief when she was placed with the “monster”. And then that epilogue! I don’t know whether to cringe or cheer. Maybe both? Admittedly, this has now become a favorite bedtime story.
I thought the version in the anthology was horrifying, but the extended version takes it to the next level! While not necessary to appreciating the main story, the prequel at the end does add depth and shows how it all began. This is not a HEA, happy for now, or happy in any meaning of the word type of story. It is, however, a masterpiece of raw, unrepentant, sacrilegious deliciousness that will leave you gasping and questioning if, in fact, you are in your right mind for loving every last page or if you should be asking for forgiveness. Fabulous but be warned, darkness oozes from the pages – I think my Kindle is smoldering…
I wanna use some choice words now…….biting my tongue here. No HEA, no happy at all and STILL I was unable to put it down. I read the original anthology story and all I thought then was……what???? Need something more, don’t leave me hanging, and now we get that more.
Still no happy, but in a weird, I’m afraid I’ve been corrupted way, it satisfied me. Don’t get me wrong, I still need more story, hoping for another……the short story prequel just whetted my appetite.
And have to remember to NOT read these at bedtime, I truly don’t need the weird dreams this causes! But I will, won’t be able to resist the next either, strange dreams or not!!
Definitely a very dark and disturbing 5 star read.
Oh my dark loving brethren, here is an offering that will torture your sinful soul
Reign to Ruin is a reworking of Baptised in Eden, Jennifer’s offering in the Twisted Sacraments anthology. Not only has it been tidied up but it has been significantly expanded into something even more dark and twisted. There are no heroes in this world, there is no salvation, no rainbows, unicorns nor dancing cats. Instead there is only the loss of all hope, except perhaps the one for death. A continued existence of choosing the lesser of two evils, or at least doing that when you are given the option of a choice.
Danielle is a woman with fragmented memories, trapped in a hell of man’s making. Repeatedly sacrificed to the corrupted lust of the priests who hold her prisoner. Abused, degraded, beaten, raped again and again, revived by baptism in the ‘holy’ water, only for the horrifying violence to start again.
This story punches its claws into your gut, grasps your insides and refuses to let go. The writing held me spellbound. I suffered alongside Danielle, through her pain, despair and the countless violations of both her body and mind. I can not do this story justice, I am unable to find the words that will convey just how bloody brilliant this tale is. Perhaps I should worry that Ms Bene’s mind can produce such a dark, dark, dark story, instead I’m rather selfishly glad that she produces such masterpieces of depravity.
The original story left us just after Danielle was ‘treated’ to a very special second baptism and thrust into a pitch black chamber. Now I do remember feeling like this situation had a minuscule ray of hope within it. Well I was sort of right and a lot wrong, but you’ll need to read this compellingly twisted, licentious, deviant and obscene (and I mean that in a very good way) book.
Be warned, this book contains a multitude of possible triggers, caution is advised if you are sensitive to certain subject matter involving physical and sexual abuse.
Bonus story – The Day The Sky Burned
This is such an eerie read. It has enough of an air of the believable about it to be incredibly frightening. Mob mentality, panic and politics make it only too easy to imagine this actually happening.
I loved the insight it gave us, both into Danielle’s life prior to the sky burning, her family and loved ones and how Eden could ever possibly come into existence. A stunning read.
Disorierntared, puzzled and perplexed is she as she struggles to open her eyes and focus.
Chains, a severe lack of clothing and words of “eden” surround her.
pain and punishment, along with men forcing themselves on her is her new world now. Obidience is the name of the game…. but what is the prize?
Wow erm.. I’m kinda speechless at the moment.
This is originally from an anthology, but dont hold that against this as more new scenes have been added for a fuller read.
I loved how you were thrown in the deep end to make up your own mind how she got there, with the prequel “The day the sky burned” placed afterwards to stop one hundred and one scenarios dancing around your mind, and give you actual answers.
An unusual, dark, gritty twisted read. I’m not sure I will look at someone associated with religion and the church in the same way again after this!
If you like darkness then you will embrace this as I did, with an open mind and a hunger for some shady dealings.
Danielle is the main character, and so many different emotions hit me as I devoured this. From sorrow, to understanding and everywhere inbetween.
A book that has the ending you want it to have, and is completely open to your own interpretation definetly gets the thumbs up from me!
I cant wait to read more of this world, and see where Jennifer takes it as quite frankly the possibilities are endless!
Danielle was taken although she cannot remember anything. They call this place Eden but she believes it’s HELL. A very powerful story of torture and abuse and how one woman endures it. Until the end, until the final baptism and what happens. Not for the faint of heart. You are dragged into the depths of HELL. Must read for the ending is just WOW!
Eden is a world that belies its namesake – there is nothing peaceful or safe about this Dystopian world! It’s a hopeless place where one can get baptized over and over, yet never feel clean. There’s no HEA, there’s no sweetness and light, and don’t expect everything to simply go away. With each dark violation of Danielle’s person, she fights that much harder to hold on to her sanity and sense of reality. This was one horrific, messed up tale, but like a moth to a flame, I couldn’t stay away!
This book was something else. It was so vile, twisted, taboo, intense, dark, made me want to vomit and so dang good. I could not stop reading it. You know it’s like when you see an accident on the freeway and you stop or slow down to watch it? That’s what this book does to you. This extremely talented, imaginative author is not only one of my favorite authors, she is also one of my go to authors. I know that if I’m reading one of her books, I will get hooked and addicted! There are triggers and if you’re bothered by them you might not want to read this book but, then again if you’re crazy like me, you’ll read it anyway. Lol.
Danielle wakes up in Eden with absolutely no memories at all.
Not where she is
Not how she got there.
Nor anything of her past.
Holy Hell (some pun intended) the things she endures and is put through is unimaginable.
Eden is the making of vile evil men.
Who in order to life out their most despicable perverted fantasies the women must pay the high price.
I read the first version in Twisted Sacrament and was horrified.
I’m still no less horrified reading this new longer version.
I always thought Danielle was a strong woman.
Her spirit was bent in everything direction.
But never broke.
She may have wanted her life to end.
But she endured and kept on living.
I’m happy Ms. Bene added an epilogue in Reign of Ruin.
So unlike the first version which was a pitch black ending.
In the epilogue Danielle is still living a freaking nightmare.
But it’s not as pitch black.
I love how Ms. Bene is such a versatile author.
She a very talented writer no matter which genre she chooses to write.
Do I love that I hated this book or hate that I loved this book? That is the best complement I can think to describe how I feel about this book at this moment. I first read this as a short story as part of the Twisted Scrament Anthology and gave it 5 stars. After giving that version the highest rating available, I’m at a total loss to let anyone know how much better this version is than its predecessor. I absolutely loved how this book confused me and dragged me (sometimes kicking and screaming) into the darkness! Read Ms. Bene’s warning about the lack of a HEA, then read this book; if you dare.
You should be joyful in your suffering.
I read the inspiration for this story in a horror anthology. Now revamped, with a lot of extra words, this Dystopian world is still bleak, dark, and horrible but I had a better understanding of Eden in all its atrocities. The religious aspect of suffering, absolution, and rebirth figures prominently in a scarily twisted way. The descriptive content was, at times, difficult to get through (trigger warnings galore), but I could not stop reading. I enjoy Ms Bene’s writing style, and she is excellent at getting the reader into a particular emotional space. I am super excited to hear that there may be more stories set in this world.
The Day the Sky Burned is included in the back, and it is a prequel to Reign of Ruin. I actually read it after Reign of Ruin, and it is the back story of the evolution of Eden. I am starting to get the hang of horror; I can feel unsettled, not have an HEA, and still love the stories.
I received a copy of this book. My honest review is voluntarily provided.
Wow what a read. This book will not take you down a happy ending for you. This is a very dark read that will have you so sucked in you will not be able to put down. This is a very dark read that will have you on a heart pound read,
A new dark post apocalypse series by the talented Jennifer Bene. There is a short prequel called The Day the Sky Burned at the end of the book which explains the world and what let up to Eden and Danielle being taken. I recommend you read that first. It shows who quickly a society can change. It is eerie and frankly scary.
In Reign of Ruin We follow Danielle trying to survive in the hell called Eden. Jennifer Bene weaves together a dark, gritty tale of humans driven by religious fanaticism and pure depravement. The horrors that are being done to Danielle are indescribable, but she survives one minute at the time. Even in the darkest pits of hell, she holds on to a thread of hope.
I read this book the same way I watched The Long Night episode of GoT. In complete awe at Jennifer Bene talented of writing while hugging a pillow.
So many of the wars and genocides in this world are based on religion and in Reign of Ruin it is religion that is at the heart of the evil being done to Danielle and all the other women being held with her. It is a dark, disturbing tale with no redeeming happy ending. There is one line that to me, was the crux of the story “All of it worse, much worse, because people had done it, just people. Humans.” It is without a doubt an uncomfortable read but it is also like watching a horror movie, you know it is scary but you can’t look away! I would read the prologue first as it helps explain what happened to Danielle, but the ending is yours to decide.
Nightmare inducing reading!
This book narrates a travesty of holiness in painstaking detail. Women suffering unimaginable horrors, inflicted by so called priests.
One of them is picked out as special, used and abused, only to be revived again and again to repeat the suffering. This is a claustrophobic, hopeless tale! Someone mentions the Spanish Inquisition. That had a predictable end for the victims, this hasn’t!
This is one of those books you love to hate.
And then we get a bonus, if you dare call it that!
The Day The Sky Burned
This is the prequel to Reign of Ruin.
With relentless precision Ms Bene narrates the development of mass hysteria that turns more and more oppressive with every chapter. This story begins in such a believably realistic environment that the veracity of it is frighteningly believable.
As always this author produces an utterly chilling piece of spine tingling horror.