Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

RUINER

 RUINER
type
TVTItem
 RUINER
label
RUINER
 RUINER
page
Ruiner
 RUINER
comment
"Ruiner", by Asbestos T. Fowler and Damien Blake is a 2022 two-volume postmodern horror novel, whose plot is... difficult to describe, to say the least. Published through E. Whipple Publishing House, it encompasses more than a thousand pages and an immense range of topics, taking its cues from speculative fiction, continental philosophy, ergodic literature and a hoard of influences that would need an entire Wiki page of their own to unpack.Nihil, an amateur hacker in a relationship with up-and-coming model named Lilly, (a character from Damien Blake's earlier Harsh Generation) is tasked by a mysterious man named Victor Herbst with finding a video that drives people insane. A series of nonsensical vignettes follows. Afterwards, the plot goes back to Nihil but this time he’s a dirt-poor bio-cleaner living with mentally unstable artist Nicolle. He finds an apartment with a hole in the bathroom that leads to a room that’s not in the building’s plans, and then to a neverending staircase.From there on, the novel is broken into increasingly chaotic segments that switch from various topographical locations and characters in the present (circa 2015,) to the English Civil War, to Italy in the early eighties, a dark rendition of 1840’s American South, World War II Japan, 1990s North Korea, and to a dystopian version of Hollywood, as well as an unidentified futuristic dimension referred to only as The City, 10,000 years in the future.Every chapter is written in an entirely different style, and some contain only a few words or elaborate, surreal artwork. There’s also a box that contains something that should never be found, although it’s never properly explained what it is, a hermit who lives in a steampunk mausoleum and collects wasps, an obscure Voodoo tribe that plans a terrorist attack in London, a talking hamster, a kitten that gives birth to a human baby, a series of unrelated dreamlike vignettes and the murder of a character's imaginary friend.To call this novel Mind Screw is understating it. Think Gravity's Rainbow meets House of Leaves and you are not far off.Not to be confused with the video game of the same name.
 RUINER
fetched
2023-09-03T23:45:04Z
 RUINER
parsed
2023-09-03T23:45:04Z
 RUINER
processingComment
Dropped link to BreakTheFourthWall: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
 RUINER
processingComment
Dropped link to GenreBusting: Not a Feature - IGNORE
 RUINER
processingUnknown
BreakTheFourthWall
 RUINER
isPartOf
DBTropes
 RUINER / int_10dcbe05
type
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other
 RUINER / int_10dcbe05
comment
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Most surprisingly, Nihil and Lilly. At first Nihil is presented as an expy of the narrator of Harsh Generation, calmly dismissing Lilly as a casual partner, but he grows to care about her a great deal as the story progresses. Viciously subverted with the other version of Nihil: he absolutely loathes Nicolle and murders her callously after learning she’s pregnant with his child (maybe.)
 RUINER / int_10dcbe05
featureApplicability
-0.3
 RUINER / int_10dcbe05
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_10dcbe05
 RUINER / int_141a6acb
type
Madness Mantra
 RUINER / int_141a6acb
comment
Madness Mantra: Escape. Try to.
 RUINER / int_141a6acb
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_141a6acb
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_141a6acb
 RUINER / int_19851b86
type
The Sociopath
 RUINER / int_19851b86
comment
The Sociopath: Practically, pretty much everyone is completely detached from reality and moral guidelines.
 RUINER / int_19851b86
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_19851b86
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_19851b86
 RUINER / int_21d70919
type
Crapsack World
 RUINER / int_21d70919
comment
Crapsack World: There's not a single likeable character to be found. London in particular is presented as a bleak, desolate hellscape.
 RUINER / int_21d70919
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_21d70919
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_21d70919
 RUINER / int_222dc873
type
Black Comedy
 RUINER / int_222dc873
comment
Black Comedy: The novel’s story—insofar as it can be summed up—is both an affectionate homage and a deconstruction of the horror genre.
 RUINER / int_222dc873
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_222dc873
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_222dc873
 RUINER / int_294ed981
type
Bilingual Bonus
 RUINER / int_294ed981
comment
Bilingual Bonus: The novel has liberal doses of words and phrases from French, German, Spanish, Latin, Greek, and about ten other languages.
 RUINER / int_294ed981
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_294ed981
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_294ed981
 RUINER / int_48081842
type
The Stinger
 RUINER / int_48081842
comment
The Stinger: The Appendix serves as this.
 RUINER / int_48081842
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_48081842
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_48081842
 RUINER / int_48f0ca7f
type
PostModernism
 RUINER / int_48f0ca7f
comment
Postmodernism: The closest description as far as 'genre' is concerned, besides horror.
 RUINER / int_48f0ca7f
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_48f0ca7f
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_48f0ca7f
 RUINER / int_4b316d47
type
Break the Cutie
 RUINER / int_4b316d47
comment
Break the Cutie: Nothing suggests that Nicolle is a bad person, even if she’s mildly unstable. Nihil in turn puts her through so much emotional torture that she’s pretty much driven to madness by the time she disappears in the staircase.
 RUINER / int_4b316d47
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_4b316d47
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_4b316d47
 RUINER / int_5009999d
type
Painting the Medium
 RUINER / int_5009999d
comment
Painting the Medium: The entire book features a distinct page layout with colourful illustrations and typography, and dozens of different fonts.
 RUINER / int_5009999d
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_5009999d
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_5009999d
 RUINER / int_504a1991
type
Body Horror
 RUINER / int_504a1991
comment
Body Horror: Taken to extreme levels.
 RUINER / int_504a1991
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_504a1991
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_504a1991
 RUINER / int_50f66629
type
Crazy-Prepared
 RUINER / int_50f66629
comment
Crazy-Prepared: Nihil, to paranoid extremes.
 RUINER / int_50f66629
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_50f66629
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_50f66629
 RUINER / int_588d766f
type
BlackAndGreyMorality
 RUINER / int_588d766f
comment
Black-and-Grey Morality: There are no heroes in this story. At best, you have a bunch of amoral people against complete psychopaths, one of whom is the protagonist from the second act onwards.
 RUINER / int_588d766f
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_588d766f
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_588d766f
 RUINER / int_5db59a03
type
Brown Note
 RUINER / int_5db59a03
comment
Brown Note: The Ruiner video drives you insane just by watching it, a reference to the Cthulhu Mythos and Japanese horror franchise Ringu.
 RUINER / int_5db59a03
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_5db59a03
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_5db59a03
 RUINER / int_5f146203
type
Dissonant Serenity
 RUINER / int_5f146203
comment
Dissonant Serenity: Reese is surprisingly nonchalant when confronted with a corpse in his bathtub.
 RUINER / int_5f146203
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_5f146203
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_5f146203
 RUINER / int_5ff56a1f
type
Long List
 RUINER / int_5ff56a1f
comment
Long List: Used frequently, to jarring effect.
 RUINER / int_5ff56a1f
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_5ff56a1f
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_5ff56a1f
 RUINER / int_67fedd35
type
Bizarrchitecture
 RUINER / int_67fedd35
comment
Bizarrchitecture: The Mackenzie Manor.
 RUINER / int_67fedd35
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_67fedd35
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_67fedd35
 RUINER / int_6941e30b
type
Room Full of Crazy
 RUINER / int_6941e30b
comment
Room Full of Crazy: The apartment of Cassandra Blair.
 RUINER / int_6941e30b
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_6941e30b
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_6941e30b
 RUINER / int_6a1c2a6
type
Cosmic Horror Story
 RUINER / int_6a1c2a6
comment
Cosmic Horror Story: By the end of it, it has turned into this.
 RUINER / int_6a1c2a6
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_6a1c2a6
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_6a1c2a6
 RUINER / int_6b35bdff
type
Serious Business
 RUINER / int_6b35bdff
comment
Serious Business: To Nihil and Reese, Bjork, of all things, is this.
 RUINER / int_6b35bdff
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_6b35bdff
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_6b35bdff
 RUINER / int_6bda9a30
type
Meaningful Name
 RUINER / int_6bda9a30
comment
Meaningful Name: Nihil, the Frequenter, Tristeza, and a host of other characters.
 RUINER / int_6bda9a30
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_6bda9a30
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_6bda9a30
 RUINER / int_720ef89f
type
Unconventional Formatting
 RUINER / int_720ef89f
comment
Unconventional Formatting: More so in the second volume, where the absurdity of the narrative is reflected in the increasingly chaotic page layout.
 RUINER / int_720ef89f
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_720ef89f
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_720ef89f
 RUINER / int_72d31973
type
Surreal Horror
 RUINER / int_72d31973
comment
Surreal Horror: The entire story.
 RUINER / int_72d31973
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_72d31973
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_72d31973
 RUINER / int_82accf22
type
Gainax Ending
 RUINER / int_82accf22
comment
Gainax Ending: The novel ends with the video destroying the text, as well as the reader. Possibly.
 RUINER / int_82accf22
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_82accf22
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_82accf22
 RUINER / int_898ff050
type
Villain Protagonist
 RUINER / int_898ff050
comment
Villain Protagonist: Very narrowly averted; Nihil’s one redeeming quality is his genuine love towards Lilly. The other version in Act II is this: He hatches a plan to get rid of his overbearing (from his point of view) girlfriend; he gets away with it because people were willing to pay vast sums of money to see “real horror.”
 RUINER / int_898ff050
featureApplicability
-1.0
 RUINER / int_898ff050
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_898ff050
 RUINER / int_8ed5c6e4
type
Asshole Victim
 RUINER / int_8ed5c6e4
comment
Asshole Victim: Arthur Glint. The violence inflicted upon him is almost cartoonish. He also had molested Lilly when she was younger, leading to her developing most of her emotional issues.
 RUINER / int_8ed5c6e4
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_8ed5c6e4
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_8ed5c6e4
 RUINER / int_90c54800
type
Scrapbook Story
 RUINER / int_90c54800
comment
Scrapbook Story: There are about forty different narrators, each coming with their individual font.
 RUINER / int_90c54800
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_90c54800
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_90c54800
 RUINER / int_9bee1a7f
type
Eldritch Location
 RUINER / int_9bee1a7f
comment
Eldritch Location: Numerous, with the haunted staircase being the most prominent.
 RUINER / int_9bee1a7f
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_9bee1a7f
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_9bee1a7f
 RUINER / int_a70223
type
Karma Houdini
 RUINER / int_a70223
comment
Karma Houdini: Herbst, Nihil-02, and pretty much all the bad guys.
 RUINER / int_a70223
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_a70223
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_a70223
 RUINER / int_a7055a94
type
Classical Anti-Hero
 RUINER / int_a7055a94
comment
Classical Anti-Hero: Nihil. The other version is a Villain Protagonist.
 RUINER / int_a7055a94
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_a7055a94
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_a7055a94
 RUINER / int_a7850fbf
type
Only Known by Their Nickname
 RUINER / int_a7850fbf
comment
Only Known by Their Nickname: Nihil, at some point, comments on no one knowing his actual name, not even his girlfriend.
 RUINER / int_a7850fbf
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_a7850fbf
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_a7850fbf
 RUINER / int_ad22fa80
type
Apocalyptic Log
 RUINER / int_ad22fa80
comment
Apocalyptic Log: The novel itself. Probably.
 RUINER / int_ad22fa80
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_ad22fa80
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_ad22fa80
 RUINER / int_ae3d6438
type
Deadpan Snarker
 RUINER / int_ae3d6438
comment
Deadpan Snarker: The dialogue is dripping with gleeful sarcasm.
 RUINER / int_ae3d6438
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_ae3d6438
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_ae3d6438
 RUINER / int_b3bdf232
type
Alien Geometries
 RUINER / int_b3bdf232
comment
Alien Geometries: The apartment building wherein the staircase is located.
 RUINER / int_b3bdf232
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_b3bdf232
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_b3bdf232
 RUINER / int_b869b5b1
type
Color Motif
 RUINER / int_b869b5b1
comment
Color Motif: The word 'axiom' always appears in red.
 RUINER / int_b869b5b1
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_b869b5b1
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_b869b5b1
 RUINER / int_bb0b2739
type
Nested Story
 RUINER / int_bb0b2739
comment
Nested Story: With at least four important layers.
 RUINER / int_bb0b2739
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_bb0b2739
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_bb0b2739
 RUINER / int_bef696dd
type
Mind Screw
 RUINER / int_bef696dd
comment
Mind Screw: Prime example.
 RUINER / int_bef696dd
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_bef696dd
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_bef696dd
 RUINER / int_c04b1231
type
Jump Scare
 RUINER / int_c04b1231
comment
Jump Scare: A few pages feature unsettling photographs of distorted faces that can produce this.
 RUINER / int_c04b1231
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_c04b1231
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_c04b1231
 RUINER / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 RUINER / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out: To everything horror-related. Major homage to Stephen King, H. P. Lovecraft, Clive Barker, 90s horror manga and 80s horror films, as well as modern creepy-pasta and viral videos. Also contains a hurricane of references to classical literature, mythology, cinema, theology, and folklore.
 RUINER / int_c75df49a
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_c75df49a
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_c75df49a
 RUINER / int_cdfe12c3
type
Nothing Is Scarier
 RUINER / int_cdfe12c3
comment
Nothing Is Scarier: Big time. The staircase is haunted by something that is never described. Characters constantly feel they’re being watched but nothing happens. The video is never fully observed.
 RUINER / int_cdfe12c3
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_cdfe12c3
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_cdfe12c3
 RUINER / int_ce6555f0
type
Lighter and Softer
 RUINER / int_ce6555f0
comment
Lighter and Softer: The main character compared to Harsh Generation, although the setting is definitely Darker and Edgier.
 RUINER / int_ce6555f0
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_ce6555f0
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_ce6555f0
 RUINER / int_d22a7df2
type
Troubled, but Cute
 RUINER / int_d22a7df2
comment
Troubled, but Cute: Nihil and Lilly.
 RUINER / int_d22a7df2
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_d22a7df2
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_d22a7df2
 RUINER / int_d7fc9fd0
type
Vitriolic Best Buds
 RUINER / int_d7fc9fd0
comment
Vitriolic Best Buds: As opposed to the Narrator’s from Harsh Generation constant dismissal of anyone, Nihil and Reese get along as best as their differing personalities allow, with massive amounts of snarkiness.
 RUINER / int_d7fc9fd0
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_d7fc9fd0
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_d7fc9fd0
 RUINER / int_da53340
type
Religious Horror
 RUINER / int_da53340
comment
Religious Horror: Somnus' narration is rife with elements and symbols of Catholicism reverted to be sinister.
 RUINER / int_da53340
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_da53340
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_da53340
 RUINER / int_e542d889
type
Gorn
 RUINER / int_e542d889
comment
Gorn: And not just in the way expected of a horror novel. The second volume features actual crime scene photos and what appears to be distorted archival footage of concentration camps and Thích Quảng Đức, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk who died of self-immolation.
 RUINER / int_e542d889
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_e542d889
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_e542d889
 RUINER / int_eeb4a5eb
type
Anti-Climax
 RUINER / int_eeb4a5eb
comment
Anti-Climax: The novel ends mid-sentence, and none of the subplots ever get resolved.
 RUINER / int_eeb4a5eb
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_eeb4a5eb
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_eeb4a5eb
 RUINER / int_name
type
ItemName
 RUINER / int_name
comment
 RUINER / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 RUINER / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 RUINER
hasFeature
RUINER / int_name
 RUINER / int_name
itemName
RUINER

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

(none found)