Ruin and Rising (Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #3) (Grishaverse, #3)

by Leigh Bardugo

My expectations were very low, I did not like the first two books, so I did not expect to like this one. I don’t hate it, but I cannot understand how people actually believe that this is a good story. It has so many tropes, I hated the resurrection trope the most, just why? It was really unnecessary to let Mal live, he was dead, he was supposed to stay dead. I did not mind it when the powerful man (I already forgot his name, sorry!) resurrected his daughter because he actually seemed capable of it. He did a lot of very questionable experiments and he was very powerful.

Let me start by stating what I liked about this book:
- The plot twist that Baghra and the Darkling are descendants of that powerful man
- Baghra’s backstory
- Nikolai (even though his character deserved a better storyline than this nonsense, but hey there is another book about him so that’s okay)

I wish I had liked more, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care. Alina kept making dumb decisions, being self centered, and highly annoying. The betrayal of Sergei did not feel as bad because who cares about Sergei?! Also, the betrayal of David and the twins in the previous books was so much worse than this, and it was repetitive. Every book has a betrayal at this point.

I hated that Mal was the third amplifier, because it did not make any sense. Yes, it was a great plot device, but it also felt ridiculous. Also, after killing Mal, the Darkling was too easily killable. And then we just rushed to an ending where Nikolai is cured and everything is perfect... I personally don’t like books like that.