Book Review: This Crimson Ruin by Rebecca Thorne

Genre(s): Science Fiction / Science Fantasy / Apocalyptic Sci-fi

Book Synopsis:

Death might be the only escape.

When Sergeant Nix Marr signed up as her ex’s bodyguard for a trip to the domed city of Fall, she doubted she’d return alive. But neither woman could have predicted the cataclysmic event that stranded them both beneath the ocean.

Worse, Fall has been completely abandoned, ruins of a once-grand city. Aside from the occasional infected citizen, there’s no indicator where the rest of Fall’s population went. And as Nix and Kessandra hunt for clues, a deeper evil prods Nix’s own mind.

With Fall’s iconic dome flooding and every answer creating more questions, the pair may have to descend deeper than they ever imagined to survive.

Welcome to Fall.

Review:

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a way to kick off #SequelSeptember! This Crimson Ruin is the heart-pounding and gut-wrenching sequel to This Gilded Abyss, which was one of my favorite reads of 2025. The second book was just as good.

I will do my best not to spoil anything from book one in this review, but that’s going to be really difficult (so you’ve been warned.)

I’ve been eagerly awaiting This Crimson Ruin due to how book one ended. It picks up where the first one left off without missing a beat. There’s just as much action, but this second book takes the tension and horror to a whole new level. Think zombie apocalypse, set in an underwater city where there’s very little chance of escape, but the handful of survivors are determined to get through this mess anyway.

Most of the story is told from Nix’s perspective, with a handful of chapters coming from Kessandra. Nix is a career soldier, and was ordered to act as Kessandra’s bodyguard when Kessandra was sent to Fall. They have a long history—former lovers who went through a relatively nasty split—so Nix wasn’t keen on taking the job at the beginning of book one. But orders are orders, and she can’t exactly say no to Kessandra, who is a Subarch (she’s a lower tier of royalty.) Their past plays a huge role in both books, and with the madness they encounter in Fall, it only adds another layer of potential trouble to their survival scenario.

While Kessandra can be arrogant and seemingly self-centered due to her royal upbringing, she has definitely become much more likeable all-around as the series progresses. I personally relate to Nix more, which is probably why I like her better, but they’re both great characters. They’re both survivors, determined to beat the odds, and those odds are definitely stacked against them.

This was a fantastic book. It’s not the end of Kessandra and Nix’s story by any means (there is a third book in the works), and I will be there for it when it’s available.

This Crimson Ruin is available for preorder and will release December 1, 2026.

Author website: rebeccathorne.net