Ruin and Rising (The Grisha Trilogy) by Leigh Bardugo (2015-08-18)

A fantastic conclusion to this epic series! I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and literally had no idea what was going to happen until the very end because of how complex and rich Leigh Bardugo's story is.

I loved this book, loved the series. The storytelling was amazing, I could see the scenes the author created so clearly. At first I wasn’t sure I knew the main characters but now I love them. Great banter, great cast of characters.

This book was amazing. I loved all the characters except for The Darkling and I felt sympathy for him. I cried and I laughed and the ending was great. Not how I expected it to go but it was a good ending. Some of the characters did not end up the way I thought they would but everything was tied up. I love Alina, Mal and Nikolai.

Bardugo leaves you wanting more at the end of SIEGE AND STORM and RUIN AND RISING certainly quenches that need. In RUIN AND RISING, Alina finds her way to battle the Darkling with her Grisha and ends the story in a way that answers all questions.

This book was everything I could have hoped for in the conclusion of the trilogy. I actually felt a little depressed that the series was done after I finished the book. I know these books are considered YA fiction but they felt mature enough for me to not feel guilty about TOTALLY LOVING them. Cannot recommend it enough.

Wow!! I LOVED the conclusion of Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy! This trilogy was absolutely fantastic. I cared about the characters, every single one of them, even the villains. Ruin and Rising

What I loved about the series as a whole was that the author never lost sight of the bigger picture. The whole series builds to a fight between good and evil, dark and light, a incessant battle for power. It would have been really easy to have focused on the romance aspect of the book but that didn't happen. The focus on the battle between the Darkling and Sun Summoner really propelled the series forward, especially this final book.

Alina's character development over the course of the series was brilliant. It kind of reminded me of the way Karen Marie Moning built MacKayla Lane's character like a freaking boss. In Shadow and Bone, Alina was a meek mapmaker who lacked confidence, who pined over her best friend and soldier. She never thought she was worthy. After she discovered her gifts brimming underneath her skin, she was forced to go through so much, and in turn she came into her own. She blossomed and commanded an army, made friends with warriors, and won the hearts of many. But only one person had her heart.

The romance in this series is very understated but quite lovely at the same time. Leigh Bardugo had an opportunity to take the romance in to triangle territory (and even square territory) but she didn't. She stayed true to the characters in this one.
"You were meant for more than me, and I'll die fighting to give it to you. but please don't ask me to pretend it's easy."

There was one clear villain in the series, a love interest, and a strong leader with great comedic timing. Admittedly, I grew a little tired of Mal's incessant desire to put aside his feelings for Alina in order for her to take the crown. But I understood why he was that way (that didn't mean I had to like it though *stomps foot*).

After a long and very apparent absence from my heart, the Darkling came back with a vengance in Ruin and Rising. Holy Saints, he's a vicious thing.
"You live in a single moment. I live in a thousand."

The utterly seductive Darkling I loved in Shadow and Bone is no longer. He's killing things with no craps given, manipulating people like it's his job, and just being generally creepy. He's one of my favorite villains because even though he's bad, there are still cracks in his veneer of good. He allows himself to be vulnerable (or maybe he's just playing Alina), where you see the young innocent boy he once was.

This is one of those series with wonderful secondary characters. David and Genya's adorable relationship and quiet devotion. Sturmhond's Grisha, Tamar and Tolya, were fierce warriors, yet knew when to be funny. And who can forget Oncat and Harshaw, the Inferni who loved his tabby cat so much. I really enjoyed them all, even Zoya with her prissiness stuck-up attitude.

The ending melted my heart and left me with a big smile on my face. Though it was a little bittersweet, I was still incredibly happy and I don't think I could have asked for a better ending than this. Thank you, Leigh Bardugo.

4.5 stars

Such a strong finish to an imaginative fantasy series. The ending wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it still brought me to tears. This is what YA fantasy should aspire to, and I hope in a few years my daughters will treasure this series as much as I do. Alina, Mal, Nikolai, and even the Darkling are unforgettable characters.

I gave these books a shot - they weren't recommended to me other than through a bookbub deal that was emailed. I literally read all three in three days. They were mesmerizingly good. Normally in a lot of fiction you have a harem/mary sue element to the main character.. especially if there's possible other romantic interests. Bargudo is a master at development - there was no hindering element where I was like 'really, another romantic option?!' I enjoyed all of the main characters and supporting cast... The Darkling was an haunting and grand antagonist, Nikolai stole my heart. Just amazing!

I miss the world already, and that's a sign of great writing to me.

Loved that this book had such a satisfying wrap up of the characters lives. It was really how you wanted things to end, but could not figure it out on your own. I would recommend this series to all fantasy adventure story lovers, regardless of age. It is easy to read, and wonderful to lose yourself in its pages.

After I address how I felt about the polarizing ending of Ruin and Rising, I'm going to rave about how much I loved this book and the series as a whole.

While reading various fan reviews on Goodreads and the store, I saw that many readers absolutely hated the ending Bardugo chose for her main characters. No spoilers, but there were many fans that had hoped for a different ending for Alina, Mal,Nicholai, and the Darkling. To me, the ending made perfect sense. While reading the books, I recognized that while Alina felt driven to find the three amplifiers, she was also ambivalent about her life as a Saint. She wanted to defeat the Darkling and bring peace to Ravka, but she also missed the simplicity of her life before she discovered her Grisha powers. Despite her lifelong love for Mal, only the Darkling could be her equal. I loved the ending and it made me cry. I cried for the characters and I cried because I was going to miss the magical world of Ravka.

Now, for those searching for an absolutely delicious and addicting fantasy trilogy, please pick up Shadow and Bone, the first in the Grisha Trilogy. You will be hooked and, like me, absolutely devour it. Then, with your appetite craving more, you will ferociously search for a copy of Siege and Storm. Dying to know the ending for Alina and Mal and the compelling Darkling, you will grab Ruin and Rising, lock your door, turn off your phone and read until the bittersweet end. It's that good.

To me, Alina has always represented a victim of circumstance. Raised as an orphan, she came from nothing, and never expected hidden Grisha powers would make her the most powerful, and beloved, summoner in Ravka history. A polar opposite to the cruel, yet sexually compelling, Darkling, Alina fights her destiny. There are parts when she allows her greed in acquiring the immortalizing amplifiers that cloud her judgment. She is told that "like draws to like", so there are sexually charged scenes when she finds herself erotically and powerfully drawn to the Darkling. And they are tasty.

Her relationship with Mal grows and comes to a mutual understanding with this last book. The second book left me depressed when they both basically turned their backs on one another, each refusing to accept the other's destiny. Her powers destined her for leadership; his talents destined him as a tracker and a soldier. It is hard to fight destiny when your heart is breaking.

Prince Nicholai, the swaggering, flippant, handsome pirate, I mean, privateer, has some difficult choices to make in this book. He is also faced with a horrifying destiny that makes for an incredible twist.

The Darkling. I absolutely loved this cruel, manipulative, calculating, gorgeous man. He is one of those bad boys that make your conscience scream "Run away!" while you, and Alina, are unwillingly drawn to him. The reader is sucked in by his charisma and villain black garb. Just as like draws to like, he and Alina are meant to be together.

The final book ties up all loose ends concerning the firebird amplifier, the Morozova legacy, Baghra, The Fold, Alina, Mal, Nicholai, and the Darkling. What could be an incredibly depressing novel if it weren't for moments of human kindness and the power of friendship, Ruin and Rising is an incredible finish to a series I cannot recommend enough.

Please enjoy.

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo is the third and final book in the Grisha trilogy. It completes the story of Sun Summoner Alina Starkov and her fight against the Darkling. In it Alina and her group of trusted friends must escape from the Apparat and his ragtag army of religious zealots, and track down the third amplifier, the firebird, before confronting the Darkling. Along the way, Alina learns more of Morozova’s background and his secrets.

I enjoyed Ruin and Rising far more than Siege and Storm, which suffered from middle book syndrome and patchy pacing.

What I liked

The Russian style setting. As in the previous two books, Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm, I loved the world that Bardugo has created for her characters. The writing and descriptions really give a feel for Russia with a twist.

The characters. We’ve been with these characters for three books now, and I appreciated the way they’ve grown and developed throughout the series. Their changing relationships were also very well drawn. Who would have guessed meeting Zoya in book one just how much Alina would grow to rely on her? I liked that their experiences have left their marks on our characters and that they were not the same people we met in book one. I was particularly sorry not to be able to follow the continuation of Nikolai’s story – I think his ongoing challenges – both personal and political – would make an interesting sequel.

Theme of friendship. Alina and The Darkling are contrasted in that the Darkling having lived a long time and lost everyone close to him is very much alone. Alina on the other hand has a group of friends whom she trusts and who have her back. This theme of strength in community is prominent in this book.

The ending. I really liked the way the ending blended the predictable – the truth about the third amplifier was pretty apparent throughout the whole series – with the unexpected. Yet even the unexpected was plausible, and well within the internal logic of the story, no deus ex machinas here. It also fits nicely the theme of loyalty and friendship overcoming tyranny.

The narration. Once again I loved Lauren Fortgang’s narration. She gave individual voices to each of the characters and brought them to life.

What I didn’t like

Alina’s kickassedness. At one point in the story, when Alina’s situation is pretty bleak, she put on her big girl pants and decides that she’s if she’s going to die, she’s going to go down fighting, dammit, in the manner of other YA heroines such as Hunger Games’ Katniss or Divergent’s Tris. I really liked this. However, that kickassedness isn’t maintained throughout the rest of the book. The rest of the book is more about a group of misfits joined together by friendship to bring down a tyrant. That is also good, too, but I was a little disappointed that Alina didn’t kick butt.

I did enjoy the conclusion to The Grisha Trilogy and gave Ruin and Rising four stars out of five.

Must say was enormously pleased with this book. Wasn't too sure what would happen after I was really disappointed with the previous book.Leigh Bardugo really brought it back around though. This one had it all. A bit of Romance, heavy on adventure and absolutely heart-rending. She truly is an amazing writer and I am looking forward to her next series.

love, love, love it! original started reading the trilogy because of an article I saw saying it was the next Harry Potter (I'm a HP fan). It does have similarities like a school for kids with gifts and such, but it has a totally different awesome vibe to it! I highly recommend this book!

Excellent book. Loved the series. When I started the books I thought it was not my "cup of tea" but I was so engrossed that I could not put them down and read all 3 back to back ... night after night. Get out of your comfort zone and read these books.

I enjoyed this series, even the lovey-dovey bits. This last book of the trilogy was a little slow at first, but picked up quickly and I couldn't put it down after that. I thought the ending was as good as it could have been, considering certain liberties were taken (I won't spoil anything). Overall a fantastic series that I know I will read again.

I'm still reeling with the roller coaster of feelings!!! There are so many twist and turns from the very beginning. This was a good conclusion to a really wonderful series. I look forward to exploring more of this world and meeting new characters and experiences.

Definitely five stars... Recommend for teens and up. Very easy to read, can't put down. Richly complex world and lots of wonderful secondary characters, so many!! but wow... Alina and Mal will break your heart. More Nikolas please.

I'm still reeling with the roller coaster of feelings!!! There are so many twist and turns from the very beginning. This was a good conclusion to a really wonderful series. I look forward to exploring more of this world and meeting new characters and experiences.

Definitely five stars... Recommend for teens and up. Very easy to read, can't put down. Richly complex world and lots of wonderful secondary characters, so many!! but wow... Alina and Mal will break your heart. More Nikolas please.

wow, love all the characters: the good the bad and the ugly. this author can write,

love the wit conversation, nikolai oooo, zoya, mal and alina. i laughted i cried.
the ending was perfect!

This Trilogy was perhaps the best fantasy books I have read in a long time. Really great character development. She was able to show the villain as being both human and lonely and evil at the same time. The characters grow and change and relationships develop. The plot takes you on a great journey.

I am feeling a little disappointed in this series. The first book started off so promising, the second book was a bit of a let down, but I expected this book to pick up more especially considering how the second book ended, but I was wrong. For me this book was just as slow as the second book. Nothing really happened until the last 30% of the book.

I still struggled just as much with Alina in this book as I did the second book. As I said before, in the first book I expected her to be a little self doubting and insecure but by now she should have gone through a complete transformation and evolved into this strong leader but I always felt like she was doubting herself and she never fully realized the influence and power she had. She showed hints of maturity in parts of the book but overall she just didn’t become the strong character that I felt she could have been.

Starting out, I wanted to give this book two stars but I felt like that would be unfair to the series, because while I might not have enjoyed the last two books as much as I expected, I did enjoy the setting and the world. The concept of the Grisha is really intriguing and wonderfully creative but Alina just didn’t deliver for me.

I did like Alina’s philosophical musings throughout the series…..I love elements like that so that was a plus for me. But I just wanted her philosophical musings to translate into something more in her character rather than just thoughts she was having….I wanted her to fully realize those thoughts and manifest them within herself.

The pace of the book was off for me too. There was so much build up and nothing really happened. There wasn’t really this epic show down that I was expecting between Alina and the Darkling…..it just sort of ended. I don’t know, I guess I was just expecting more. There was just a lot of times when the group was looking for the fire bird and musing about how to defeat the Darkling and then more wandering the country side and wondering what would happen. I just wanted more action or more romance…..more something.

So what saved this book from a 2 star rating……the ending. The ending was so fitting and worked so well. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who wants to read the series but the ending was PERFECT. I was 100% satisfied with how things came together…..my issues were more with how they got to the ending than anything else. The ending just fit so perfectly for the characters and the world itself, so if you are going to read this series or maybe you are struggling with the series over all and are wondering if you should continue……YES continue just because the ending is so perfect.

** spoiler alert ** I think I'm not as disappointed in this book than other people is because I know what is going to happen, and I went through a lot of psychological preparation before officially giving this series a second chance. I enjoyed this book when I finished it, but it was the other reviews that actually lifted my veil and made me rethink (and re-realizing) the astounding number of plot holes in this conclusion.

The Parts that made sense:
The ending
I know, how the hell can I says something like that? The fact that Aleksander did not end up with Alina is straight up traumatizing. But again, I came into this book with a LOT of mental preparations, so I trained myself fully to understand and accept the ending before giving in. Cut Bardugo some slack, it's the only way. From the beginning, Bardugo purposely made Alina and Nikolai have literally NO chemistry instead of only friendship. Even if the Darkling and Alina did have chemistry, unfortunately, we all know he was unredeemable. It would've never and it cannot ever work out. The Darkling and Alina are ultimately soul-mates that are never meant to be together. It's truly tragic, but that's the way it is. Maybe in another life, in another parallel universe where Alina can rescue Aleksander before he became so unredeemable.

There are also people that are really mad at how Alina lost her powers. I feel like it's appropriate. It's the right thing to do. Although how this worked is a bit confusing (and kind of doesn't make sense, which I'll elaborate later), I agree this is how it should've gone. Throughout the entire series, Baghra was the true voice of reason. It's either Alina giving up this great power, or risk becoming like the Darkling. She had this recurring fear that she would become just like him, so this was the ending proof to show how she, in the end, is not the same as he is, despite everything the Darkling believes and their similarities.

Romance wise, Mal is also the preferable choice and the right choice. This is hard to swallow because, in young adult books, we're so used to (and enjoys) the heroine choosing the "less easy", "less nice", and "less boring" guy. We want the "villain" to be redeemed and end up with the heroine, or the unexpected hate-love relationship. But Mal out of the three (Nikolai, Mal, and the Darkling) loves Alina more. He also has the less to offer out of the three, and he is well aware of that. You don't choose the person that has the most, you chose the one that is willing to give you the most. Nikolai cares about Alina undoubtedly, but it still came down as an alliance proposal. He even admitted it himself, saying if they were to get married, they can "grow to love each other". He doesn't love her yet. The Darkling and Alina have attraction, but as much as I hate to admit it, he's gone. He is the true villain of the series, he can never be the end game.

Greed and infinity have been a main theme in the series. "What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men”. The true test is not just being satisfied. It's being able to become satisfied when you can have so much more. I cannot agree more with Alina's choice in the end, and the plain and simple life she decided to share with Mal even with so much more out there she could've had. The fame, the power, the influence. She chose the one person and the one ending where she will be appreciated and love as her, and her only. Not the saint, the sun summer, or even queen. Not even Alina Starkov. Just Alina.

Less is truly more.

The bond
Despite what everyone said, I (at least myself) find myself understanding this bond quite well. For those who didn't get it, so basically, remember how the Darkling gave Alina the Stag so he can control her powers? Ended up, that was actually not just a one-way stream, but a two-way stream. You can't have a straw and only expect it to have one hole and flow in one way, and Alina having a brain (thank god) actually figured that out. The already have a bond there, but the nichevo’ya bite I believed strengthened the bond, and the reason that applied only to Alina is because 1) Alina and the Darkling already have a bond through the Stag, and 2) the nichevo’ya being basically physical abomination spawns from the Darkling is capable of transferring...a part of him I guess. It's also because how this bond was strengthened that helped aware Alina not only she can resist the Darkling's control, but control his powers as well.

And if that still didn't make sense, please keep in mind it's merzost.

Now, let's take a look at the things that did not make sense:
Mal a.k.a Firebird a.k.a Third amplifier?!
Okay, good news, this fact most likely was not a last minute decision on Bardugo's part (we've all been suspecting something with Mal's true abilities from book 1 and his ability in tracking and able to "sense" his targets). The bad news...

...okay. I don't know, like how he works as the amplifier, how when Alina killed him she loses her powers, and how he came back from the dead...

I am very, very happy about the fact that Mal survived, but as much as I'm happy about that fact, it's...it's a bit forced.

That part of the story definitely is unexpected, but I don't know if I'm just going to slam its label on it as good or bad. But it's definitely controversial for a very good reason indeed.

But let's finish off on a good note! Here is the list of my favorite things in the book:
- Nikolai’s superhero entry (I was smiling like an idiot haha)
- ALINA LITERALLY SLICING OFF THE HEAD OF A MOUNTAIN
- (As much as I'm mad at the Darkling) when he told Alina his real name
- The Darkling's reaction to Alina when she first appeared in dream form (and that sequence as a whole)
- Nikolai's ring and proposal
- Alina being such a smart character that grew so much in learning how to act and manipulate in the beginning, playing the role of the saint in the Apparat's place and MANIPULATING THE DARKLING FOR A TINY BIT WHEN SHE FIRST VISITED HIM I FORGOT ABOUT THAT
- Mal and Alina contemplating what would've happened if she was discovered when she was a child, and how they reached the conclusion that they would've still found each other (*tear*)

But seriously though, the anger is really, really, TRULY well deserved. The fact that Bardugo didn't make Aleksander redeemable and end game...the only reason I'm so okay with this is that I mentally prepared for SO LONG.

Since the ending is not going to change...I might as well train myself to like it. But if you'll excuse me, I never thought I'll say this, but I have some fanfiction that I need to look for...

I'm really sad this series is over. These characters have become part of my life. I even tried to slow down with the third book, just so that I could spend time with Alina, Mal, and all their friends.