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Ruins, Book One: Corpses in Armor

Geralyn Dunbar-Giles
YouWriteOn (2009)
ISBN 9781849238953
Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (4/09)

Book One of Geralyn Dunbar-Giles’s historical “Ruins” trilogy, “Corpses in Armor” is set in Libya in the year 1942.  The main focus of the book is on Joanna, an SS prisoner, and officer Hauptmann Dieter Reineke’s response to her situation.  Dunbar-Giles has “researched extensively to ensure an authentic historical backdrop” for the novel and her hard work definitely shows.  I think that this is such an important step to take when you are writing historical fiction.  While I personally knew little of the history of that time period before reading the book, I feel that I learned a lot by reading this novel.

At six hundred and sixty seven pages, “Corpses in Armor” is a rather hefty read.  The book is intelligently written and reading it does require a certain level of concentration to decipher the intricacies of the text.  It certainly should not be categorized as light reading.  To give you an example of the writing style, here is an excerpt from Chapter One:  “’Indeed,’ Reineke said, exhausted and worn, little more than a Frankenstein, manufactured son of his father, cousin to himself.  The untainted pool of genetic matter, tired, stagnant, and drained, crippling its offspring with emotions and ills far too unstable to survive in a world outside the pleasures of his estate.  Grandeur and grace crumbling under the pressures of mortality and men, tortured and tormented, radiant on the outside, but hollow within; or so Reineke suggested, today; pretended to be today.”  (p.37)

I am a “cover person” and am sometimes drawn to a book solely on that basis.  In a bookstore, this would not be a book that I would pick up because of the sole fact that I do not find the cover to be very appealing.  However, I did find out once again that the old saying of not judging a book by its cover definitely holds true.  The contents inside are much better than the outside of the book portrays.   

I found this first book in the trilogy to be suspenseful and enjoyed the author’s unique style.  The characters were very well developed and the plot was intriguing.  I look forward to reading this talented author’s two remaining books in the “Ruins” trilogy.


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