Fray

The Ruin Saga #3

by Harry Manners

The epic finale of the Ruin Saga... War. Decades after the End, in which most people on Earth mysteriously vanished, civilization is in danger of being lost forever. Fires line the horizon, distant screams ring out, and circling birds black out the sky. The last bastions of the Old World are cut off and surrounded. An army marches from the North, and a supernatural struggle between good and evil is fought by a fated few. Both threaten the survival of everyone. Norman Creek and the mission of New Canterbury must lead the resistance against the encroaching hordes. Outnumbered, outgunned, and alone, they must fight for the Old World, as the last battle for mankind begins. SAVE 40% ON THE SERIES BY GETTING THE RUIN SAGA BOXSET.

347 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 7, 2015

Reviews

[Nadine Matheson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harry Manners quickly became one of my writers to watch after the publication of Ruin, book one in the Ruin Saga in 2014. I described his debut as “impressive…intelligent, engaging and thought provoking” and those accolades can justifiably be applied to ‘Fray’ the final book in the trilogy. Fray is epic in scope and breathtaking in it’s conclusion. The Ruin Saga is a post-apocalyptic tale of a world that has stopped and the struggle to stop that world from falling apart. Fray shows us a world where people have given in to their basic primal instinct to survive. This is a world where groups of people are following either the messiah or the devil who they believe will lead them into a new world.

There is an epic battle within Fray, not only on a large geographical scale but also within the characters themselves. Alexander Cain was and still remains my favourite character. He is a man driven both by the pursuit of destiny and the preservation of the past and in Fray, Manners has developed a character who flaws become more visible. Alexander Cain’s decisions may be questionable but at no point is there a lack of empathy for him; unlike his brother James. Whereas Alexander is a man who has survived the end and is committed to restoring the world in order to return it to greatness, his brother James is a man fuelled by misguided passion, warped logic and a determination to destroy the world. In fact, one of the strengths of Fray is to expose the strengths and weaknesses of all of its characters.

The Ruin Saga isn’t ‘paint by numbers’ post-apocalyptic fiction. In Brink, the realms of fantasy were explored and this is a theme that continues in Fray and expanded further in the prequel Frost. Every question that was asked in Ruin and Brink is answered in Fray. Satisfyingly, there are no loose ends and Brink brings the Ruin Saga to a brutal but realistic end but it also creaks open a door to a possible new saga.

[Ceh131973 · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Harry Manners] remains one of my favorite authors. [Fray] is the third installment in [The Ruin Saga] and picked up just where [Brink] left off. As Norman and his crew follow Billy to stop the world from ending completely.

[Manners] really knows how to tell a story as well as weave in and out of the past and present without losing the audience. This is a skill not all authors can say they possess. If you have not experienced any of the books this man has written and like adventure on a cerebral level what are you waiting for?

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author delivers a satisfying conclusion to the Ruin Saga.My favorite part of the book was the introduction of the Pepsi Gang.The children were depicted in a way that intrigued and touched me.I hope to see a series based on them in the future.I really liked the authors mix of existing religion and mythology to create his own creation story.All the loose ends were tied together and the conclusion was satisfying, yet left open the possibility of future books in the Ruin universe.I would recommend this book series to every fan of the post apocalyptic and sci-fi genres.

[[ J o ]]

Read the first book in the Ruin Saga, Ruin. 2 Stars: written well with nice flow, but it never interested me and I dislike all the characters, therefore will not continue with the series.