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

by Leigh Bardugo

[Kait ✨]

this last book was a pretty wild ride, and i loved it all except for the ending which I was ambivalent about. (it felt very [b:Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows|136251|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)|J.K. Rowling|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1370023538s/136251.jpg|2963218] / [b:Mockingjay|7260188|Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)|Suzanne Collins|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1358275419s/7260188.jpg|8812783] to me in that it was tied up very neatly and satisfactorily and the main character is all “can i just be normal!!”. i generally prefer my endings with a bit more ambiguity.) i thought the first book was great but not amazing, the second book blew me away, and this final instalment continued the pattern. bardugo built things up to a mind-blowing climax in this book so well, but as i said, i was a bit disappointed with her treatment of those events - while i love mal, i felt that reviving him detracted from alina’s sacrifice (not to mention his!) and felt like a bit of an authorial cop-out.

alina’s personal journey as she struggles with her power and her position within the grisha community and as a potential queen was really well done. the secondary characters as well really start to shine in this instalment, read: genya+david, zoya (♥︎♥︎♥︎), and baghra’s crazy history. but my personal favourite storylines are those of the darkling and nikolai. i lurvvvv nikolai and the darkling is the epitome of fascinating with all his dark and twisty secrets.

i guess my one complaint with this book/series is that i felt bardugo hinted at the potential for a much darker storyline but didn’t take us there, with the ending and with the scarcity of the moments between alina and the darkling in the latter two books. that being said, i would still highly recommend them, especially if your tastes don’t run as dark as mine apparently do. i have [b:Six of Crows|23437156|Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)|Leigh Bardugo|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1459349344s/23437156.jpg|42077459] out from the library and after i move this weekend i am so looking forward to diving into it as i’ve heard it’s much more ~creepy~ than the grisha trilogy.