The first-ever League of Legends novel titled Ruination will be hitting bookshelves later this year. Written by Anthony Reynolds, a Principal Writer at Riot, the upcoming story takes place in Runeterra and follows the story of Kalista and (King) Viego. Here's everything we know so far about the Ruination novel, including the release date, the plot, and the League of Legends champions you can expect to see appearing as characters in the book.
Ruination Novel Publication Date: September 2022
Riot partnered up with publishing imprint Orbit, a division under Hachette Book Group in the US and a sci-fi/fantasy imprint under Little Brown Book Group in the UK. The exact release date for Ruination has not been revealed yet, but we can expect the novel to come out by September this year.
Even before Ruination, Riot and League of Legends have been heavy on crafting the lore for each Champion and really making the Runeterra universe come to life. Not to mention, the animated series Arcane was a smashing hit on Netflix plus bagged several entertainment awards, showing how invested even a non-gaming audience can be in epic fantasy tales.
Ruination and the Shadow Isles were a central part of League of Legends lore in 2021, alongside the releases of champions like Viego and Akshan. Fans got to experience in-game events like the Sentinels of Light and the Ruined King role-playing game released last year. Now it looks like Riot is bringing it back, albeit in a new media form.
Ruination: Plot and Characters
Where the empire’s knights go, slaughter follows in Camavor. Military general Kalista makes it her mission to change that bloody legacy. As confidant and advisor to King Viego, Kalista seeks to subdue his destructive tendencies. However, an assassination attempt poisons Viego's wife, Isolde, leaving her sick and dying with no known cure.
With Viego on the verge of descending into madness, and pushing the empire to unbridled ruin, Kalista desperately searches for a legendary realm called the Blessed Isles to try and find an ancient magical antidote to save the Queen. Encountering cruelty and corruption at the Isles, Kalista stands at the precipice of making the right choice that could save the world in the face of darkness.
“It’s an epic tale of magic, war, revenge, and the lengths we’ll go to for those we love,” publisher Orbit said in a tweet.
“This is a foundational story for Runeterra, and will shed new light on the events that shape some of its most pivotal characters,” said Ashley Maidy, Head of Consumer Products for Riot Games, in a press statement.
Story Length, Publication Format
Ruination is officially tagged as the first novel set in Runeterra. However, it's not the first book that Riot has published. Ruination author Anthony Reynolds himself previously worked on a League novella titled Garen: First Shield, published in 2020.
The difference between the two is primarily in the length and complexity of the story. For a novella, the usual word count is pegged at around 19,000 to 50,000 words. It will read like a novel a lot of the time, but it is less complex plot-wise with only a single central conflict. That also means that the pacing can be rather fast to wrap up the story properly within the allotted pages.
But for a novel, which is what Ruination is, you can expect more than 50,000 words in length. With all that space, the story will give airtime to character backstories and subplots. That doesn't mean that it will lack action or thrill, but just that there's more opportunity to dig deeper into the elements that build up the fantasy world or make the characters (even secondary ones) more complex.
Aside from the physical copies of the novel, Ruination will also be released as an audiobook and ebook. Orbit has also said that it will be distributed internationally, with announcements to come about publishing translated versions for major international markets. So whether you prefer listening to the story or the feel of the page, League of Legends fans will have various means to grab a copy of the novel for themselves.
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