Rage and Ruin

The Harbinger Series, Book 2

By: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Jennifer L. Armentrout is a master of weaving rich contemporary realism with magic and mayhem. Her characters will grab hold of your heart and refuse to let go. Every page left me wanting more." (New York Times best-selling author Brigid Kemmerer)

Book Two in the New York Times Best-Selling Harbinger Series

Half-angel Trinity and her bonded gargoyle protector, Zayne, have been working with demons to stop the apocalypse while avoiding falling in love. The Harbinger is coming…but who or what is it? All of humankind may fall if Trinity and Zayne can’t win the race against time as sinister forces gather.

As tensions rise, they must stay close together and patrol the DC streets at night, seeking signs of the Harbinger, an entity that is killing Wardens and demons with no seeming rhyme or reason. But as deaths pile up and they uncover a plot endangering someone dear to Zayne, Trin realizes she is being led…herded…played for some unknown end. As anger builds and feelings spiral out of control, it becomes clear that rage may be the ruin of them all.

The Harbinger Series:
Storm and Fury
Rage and Ruin
Grace and Glory

Can’t get enough of Zayne? Read about his past in The Dark Elements series:

The Dark Elements Series:
Bitter Sweet Love (ebook-only prequel)
White Hot Kiss
Stone Cold Touch
Every Last Breath

©2020 Jennifer L. Armentrout (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

Police brutality and blind representation.

Hmm how to put this, it's always seemed a bit iffy to me when an author creates a race of people whose job it is to "police" another sentient species. A theme that is most prevalent in teen novels. Probably cause apparently girls are really into guys who are so bad ass others are terrified of them and having an entire race of people cringe every time you are around is just uber..."hot?" Normally such things seem silly and unrealistic to me, however with the way things are right now in the real world with people questioning policing tactics. Some things in this book kind of irked me. Three times times a suspect who posed no threat was beaten and tortured and the one and only time it was seen as a bad thing and remarked upon Trinity claimed lectures were boring and flipped Zayne off, then she went and got food and it was never mentioned again. I get that she was dealing with some crap, but like with real world police, thats not much of an excuse and the way she just blew it off made it seem super callous. Granted Zayne's whole character arch for this book and the last trilogy was in questioning his role as a warden, and Trinity does do some soul searching buuuut there are some definite mixed signals for the audience through out the book.
Speaking of Zayne and Trinity. I'm not sure i really like them as a couple. Zayne seems far more mature as a person than she does in this book. Every time there is a problem, usually cause Trinity is feeling jealous or insecure, Zayne will try and talk to her about it. Only for Trinity to out right refuse or deliberately misinterpret what is being said so she can be a proper victim. it's really kind of gross. She does begin to figure out her short coming but wow is it grating until she does and i'm not really sure she changes all that much by the end, she just gets her way for a little bit and that settles her somewhat.
On the good side, wow does Miss Armentrout understand the frustration of being disabled. I'm not sure if that is from personal experience or just really good research (i'm too lazy to look it up) but i kept nodding my head and going i've been there over and over again. even the little things, like when a guy yells at Trinity for missing a step on a curb, i was once accused of being on drugs for bumping into a rope railing i couldn't see at an outdoor festival when i was 10. And don't get me started on how much of a pain in the ass it can be to ask strangers for help. It's all good till they realize they have to do more than nod in a general direction and grunt. It's been nearly twenty four years sense i went legally blind and i still sometimes freak out out if my vision is suddenly gone and my vision is fairly stable where it is unless something bad happens. Of course the real Frustration comes in the constant struggle of trying to be as independent as you can be while constantly slamming into that damn wall where you know you have no choice but to ask for help and deal with the shame that never really goes away because something that is so simple for most people is beyond you. Normally i use books to escape reality but this series is reminding me that every once in a while it is nice to actually have someone you can truly relate with rather than just some moping guy or gal bitching about how much having god like powers sucks.

I didnt like the Heroine

Trinity is comes off as a spoiled brat and its hard to spend the story in her head. Also there was too much attention payed to her relationship with Zane, I wish the author would have focused more on developing the plot of the story than the relationship between the two main characters. Please give Zane and the crown prince a voice in the next book I dont want to spend another book in only Trinity's head.

Holy Angel Babies

Well let me tell you, Trinity annoyed the crap out of me in this book. She was selfish and suspicious and grieving. But I still thought it was pretty good, and I’d like to see what happens at the end.

Hard to finish

I like some confrontation and angst in a story but this book was extremely hard to finish. So much could have been different if there was a conversation between trinity and Zane. Supposedly they have a cosmic connection through a bond that makes him her protector but they can’t understand what the other is feeling or have an adult conversation. This goes on through so many chapters at the end that it’s just painful to read/listen to. Not entertaining at all just painful.

Melodramatic teen dramedy romance - SPOILERS

So 90% of this book was lots of angst and will they/won’t they between Zayne and Trin. I get it, Zayne has a lot of baggage and former girlfriend-turned-“just friends” hanging around. I would feel kinda pissy about it too. But then it sort of ends in this epic battle and the resolution is just super melodramatic. It was all a little eye-roll inducing. I mean basically sexytimes happens and then all the bad stuff... it’s so 90s horror flick (and considering all the pop culture references, I’m surprised this wasn’t mentioned - oh for the love of Buffy references!). I mostly read these for the fun action and romance. The action was interesting with the zombies coming in to play but there’s just very low stakes. Even at the very end... if everyone can just come back of knit themselves back together after injury.... welp, kinda low stakes. Also Gabriel, I just don’t buy it. He’s gotta know how either Satanic or human he sounds... basically ragging on humans for failings that he himself is now displaying (pride, envy, destructiveness?). I didn’t love this installment, I wanted more organic development with Z and T, more talking things out, I wanted to believe they were more endgame than Z’s other girls. I just wasn’t that convinced, they needed more time.

Good Story but Not as Good as The First Series

The first series with Layla, Roth and Zayne I feel was better... I do like it is a continuous story but part of me dislikes the distance they put between Layla and Zayne like there past was never meant to be. Overall I enjoyed it! I also wish they would have kept the same narrator from the first book. The different voices for already established characters is a little odd.

I Wanted More From The Book

So like in the original Dark Elements Series the second book is used as a staging ground. Aside from the cliffhanger ending not too much is really happening or revealed in the book. Trinity acts like a jealous brat for a good 80% of the time. She was much more likeable in the first book. Zayne also comes off as slightly more secretive. There are times the characters are off doing things that never get explained. maybe saving it for the next book. It almost feels like it's a few chapters short of a complete story.

Loved it!

Demons, gargoyles, ghosts, and angels. What more can a girl ask! So much has happened since the first installment. While Trinity can be selfish at times I feel like she can’t always help it, because she has so many things to worry about. I love Zayne, and Wrath. Wrath has been a very interesting character. This is such a great and intense read at times. The audiobook is fantastic and narrated by Lauren Fortgang. She is such a wonderful narrator and the variety of inflections she uses is incredible. She truly breathes life to these characters. I have book 3 cued up next and ready to go!

This book hurts a lot

This book is about people in pain saying truly horrible things to each other. It's a tough listen and could be triggering for people who have experienced loss. Also, the main characters lie all the time to each other for no reason whatsoever creating a lot of needless conflict.

More dialogue between 2 then one please

I absolutely love this series....but... please for the love of Michael let’s have more dialogue between more then in Trinity’s head. Otherwise bring on Book 3. Great narration and cliffhanger(s).

Entertaining but cringe

I feel like the maturity needed for the x-rated scenes in these books just clashes with the immaturity of the characters. The main character acts like I imagine a 14 year old to and speaks like one too. Maybe even younger in this day and age. A lot of the back and forth conversation was too obvious and corny - I found myself asking “why?????” A lot .

Overall - Entertaining enough to get through in a day but I won’t be sharing it with my friends any time soon.

Epic set up for book 3

OMG my heart!!! I can’t believe what has just been set up for book 3!! Can’t wait! June is not that far off so I will have to be patient.
Brilliant second instalment in the series. This starts off where we left off and Zayne is now Trins bonded protector. Only issue is it’s against the rules for them to be together. They spend most of this book fighting the attraction they have for each other and it’s so well written you really feel it in your heart. Like the first book I listened to the audio version and was blown away by how good the narration was at bringing these characters to life but especially Trin who was witty, back chatty and super sassy. I was delighted when we got more Roth and Layla although there was just not enough Bambi lol! For me there can never be enough of that loveable snake! Brilliant from start to finish!! 5/5 top marks.

Smashed it again

Wow, I really didn’t expect the book to take the twists and turns that it did. I loved the elements series and wasn’t a huge fan of Zayne, I was team Roth all the way but now I think this series is turning out to be just as good or maybe better. I love that Roth, Layla and Cayman are all in it and not just one quick visit and that’s it. I don’t like how Roth’s voice is portrayed it’s quite creepy at times but other than that it’s excellent. I also love that we got to find out a bit more about what happened to Sam. Excellent series and I really hope we don’t have to wait a year for book 3 🙏🏻🤞

Amazing as always

Wow what a roller-coaster throughout another amazing book, I absolutely love this book gutted it's ended another year too wait excited for the next book thank you Jennifer xx

Superb as always.

Love these books. The narration is brilliant and the story keeps you gripped until the end. Then you have to get the next book.
Trinity has the same eye disease as jennifer herself and it really opens your eyes to how much it affects sufferers. Trinity, Zayne, Roth and Leila have to work together to stop Gabriel from ending the world as we know it. Not going to give any more away. Read or listen to the series. You'll love it.

Absolutely brilliant

I loved listening to rage and ruin
Lauren fortgang narrations were perfect
I just love Jennifer she’s an amazing author
Just downloaded the next book can’t wait to press play
Eek