Ruiner cover art

Ruiner

Tellers, Book 1

 Preview
Subscribe now Free with 30-day trial
Offer ends on 14 April, 2026 at 23:59.
Prime logo
Pay ₹5/month for 2 months and ₹199/month after 2 months, Cancel anytime. Offer ends on 14 April 2026 at 23:59. Take this offer!
1 credit a month to use on any title to download and keep.
Listen to anything from the Plus Catalogue—thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts and audiobooks.
Download titles to your library and listen offline.
1 credit a month to use on any title to download and keep
Listen to anything from the Plus Catalogue—thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts and audiobooks
Download titles to your library and listen offline
₹199 per month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.

Ruiner

Written by: Lara Messersmith-Glavin
Narrated by: Lara Messersmith-Glavin
Subscribe now Free with 30-day trial

Pay ₹5/month for 2 months and ₹199/month after 2 months, Cancel anytime. Offer ends on 14 April 2026 at 23:59.

₹199 per month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for ₹469.00

Buy Now for ₹469.00

LIMITED TIME OFFER | Get 2 Months for ₹5/month

About this listen

A political fantasy where storytelling is combat magic and disparate forces unite against exploitation and environmental destruction.

War and physical violence are obsolete. Now tellers compete with stories, both for glory and survival. But a story lost in combat is lost forever, and with it, a piece of the teller.

Kell is a ritual lorist, trained to navigate the desert by way of the ancient pulsar stones. When the imperial city of Soogway begins mining these sacred relics, she must act as an envoy of her clan to win them back—and engage in story combat, should negotiations fail.

Shade is a scrappy pit fighter and survivor of Soogway’s underworld. When a shadowy patron offers to train them in unorthodox techniques, they must decide whether winning an illustrious prize fight is worth the cost.

Ruiner is a grand search for justice that wrestles with trauma and the nature of violence, a tale of strategy and sacrifice that offers us strength for the times ahead.

©2026 AK Press (P)2026 AK Press Action & Adventure Epic Fantasy

Critic Reviews

"Ruiner ruined me. A magic system like nothing I've ever seen before, and the characters and the story are every bit as fresh and dazzling as the worldbuilding."—Sam J. Miller, Nebula Award-winning author of Blackfish City

"An intricate spiral staircase of a book that offers a rich invented world, lovingly rendered characters, and a propulsive plot that examines power, play, community bonds, and societal structures. It fascinates from first page to last."—Madeline ffitch, author of Stay and Fight

"The sort of fantasy I always yearn to find and find all too rarely. … Its meticulously built mythos becomes a lens through which to view our own troubled world. Storylight for finding our way forward."—Molly Gloss, award-winning author of The Dazzle of Day
No reviews yet