REVIEW: RUIN AND RISING by Leigh Bardugo ~ P.S. I love that book!

Title: Ruin and Rising
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: The Grisha #3
Genres: YA, Fantasy, Romance
Publisher: Square Fish
Source: Physical copy
Pages: 480

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SYNOPSIS: The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

HANNAHCASSIE'S REVIEW

The time has come! After reading the second book Siege and Storm I divided right into the third and final book of the Grisha trilogy!

THE WORLD: To be honest, the world is a little bit changed in this book. Surely, we still have Ravka divided by the Fold and magic of the Grisha but...so the most part of the Ravka is ruled by the Darkling. The West Part of the Ravka declared for Nikolai and where is our Sun Summoner? Well she is locked underground and then traveling around trying to find Firebird. It is a little bit sad because we did not have to see anything new of Ravka, no further development of the world.

CHARACTERS: Alina is the Sun Summoner and now a focus of the religious fanatics cult who believe her to be a saint. The Darkling is rather an opposite, everybody believes him to be an evil tyrant ruling Ravka in blood. But to be honest, Alina is rather boring in this book. She is really just a poor little girl all weak and whiny one again. So much potential and such a disappointment. The Darkling...he is just evil. I really miss his charm from the book one. And I really did not like how he acted in the last scene..was rather...hmm...wtf? Then we have Mal...you guys know how much I hate Mal, well that did not change. I agree with people saying that he is a little bit less annoying as before but still...I miss good old times when Mal was nobody and well literary not in the story! But we also got to know other Grisha in this book more which I really liked. Yes, it is no secret that when reading about them all traveling and fighting I saw three musketeers story between my eyes but oh well... I love Genya and Zoya is not so bad too after all. What I did find troubling with the characters though is the fact that so many died. For me I started not to register names anymore because well... everybody dies.

LOVE: No more love triangle. Darkling is completely out of the picture as love interest. There is of course Nikolai but who are we kidding. It is more than clear Alina is with Mal and Mal only from page one. Sad.

PLUS: This book was definitely more easy than the second book in the trilogy. But personally I did not like much how the story ended. It was okay I guess. But only okay.

MINUS: I am a little bit disappointed. I missed court. The Apparat part really killed me. And some things made no sense. I am sorry. I really loved the first book and I was expecting way much more from the story.

EXTRA: I loved the story itself, I loved the world and the magic of Grisha. But it left me disappointed. Four out of five stars mainly because of the world the story is based in.

LAURA'S REVIEW

This is the third book of The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo and don't be fooled by the marking. It is actually a nice end to a trilogy but my rating is completely based on the destiny of one character...

THE WORLD: I won't even talk about it because it is explained by HannahCassie. Main different is how the country is now ruled and yes, sad we don't get any more information about this.

CHARACTERS: the main characters are also the same... Alina, Mal, and The Darkling. Sturmhond (aka Nikolai) gains more weight in the story as well as Genya, Zoya, the Apparat (a crazy man who thinks Alina is a saint and hails her for reasons unknown) and the rest of the gang that's there to protect and help Alina. I agree with HannahCassie that Genya and Zoya added something extra because honestly without them it would've been completely boring, just like all those Apparat pages. Ugh, waste of time.

LOVE: summary of the love story with spoilers. Girl was in love with childhood best friend but he kind of ignored her. Girl finds another potential partner and childhood best friend is suddenly interested and jealous. Potential partner turns out to be 'evil' (and the '' are very important) so girl goes back to childhood best friend. For a while both happy. Another potential partner but girl says 'lol no'. Childhood best friend sacrifices himself and dies. Girl begs for him to be brought back to life. Boy is alive again. Life is good.

PLUS: in general it is a very good ending for the trilogy in the sense that wraps things quite good for both Alina and Mal (and maybe for Ravka in general). Also, there are some juicy plot twists!!! The bad thing is that the alternative ending would've been soooo much better...

MINUS: this is all spoiler. WHY DID SHE HAVE TO KILL THE DARKLING??? UH? UH? IT WASN'T ENOUGH TO HAVE ALINA CHOSE MAL OVER HIM BUT ALSO THE DARKLING HAD TO DIE NO? NO! WRONG! MY POOR MISUNDERSTOOD BABY! HE WASN'T 'EVIL' OKAY? I'M PRETTY SURE HE COULD'VE REDEEMED HIMSELF IF ONLY SOMEONE WOULD'VE GIVEN HIM SOME LOVE!!! OR EVEN IF HE WAS EVIL HE WAS SO MUCH BETTER THAN ANY OF THE OTHER CHARACTERS! IN FACT, HE WAS BETTER THAN ALINA. YOU KNOW WHAT? ALINA DIDN'T DESERVE THE DARKLING. HE'S MINE! BRING HIM BACK FROM DEATH! (and Leigh made him be almost grateful to be killed like wtf? no. nO. NO.)

Like Hannah said... disappointing.

OVERALL: 3.5 stars. More enjoyable than second book, more action-packed, some plot twists *wink wink* but the end is just a huge no for me. I was devastated.