The Tree of Books: Ruin and Rising

Monday, May 23, 2016

Ruin and Rising

Title: Ruin and Rising (The Grisha #3)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: 417
Rating: 4 Stars
Purchase this book:
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository

Alina knows that Ravka will be at unrest as long as the Darkling remains in power. So, she and her makeshift army travel across the country, searching for the third amplifier that will give Alina the power to defeat the Darkling once and for all. However, nothing is as simple as everyone thought, and as events unfold, Alina's plan begins to unravel.

This concluding novel really resonated with me. I was hit with so many different emotions when I turned the last page that I wasn't really sure what to do next. I'll just tell you that I was very satisfied with this conclusion. It felt complete and whole. (Even if I didn't like everything that went down.)

I was really pleased with how all the characters have developed through the series. If you read any of my previous reviews for this trilogy, you'll know that I wasn't all that big of a fan of Mal's. I still don't like him with Alina, but I do like him as a person. (Team Nikolai!) I finally see Mal's purpose as a character, and I do appreciate his friendship with Alina. I liked some of the new characters we meet as well, for example, Harshaw was an adorable little character and I loved his devotion to his pet cat, Oncat. And the Darkling remained ever the complex character that nicely symbolizes Alina's dark side.

This novel was really epic, too. If I had to sum this book up in one word it would be epic, because it is! There were times during the book that I honestly felt like standing up and cheering because it was just so awesome. (But of course, I had to be content with mentally cheering. ((Which didn't keep a smile off my face.)) I found all the fight scenes to be action packed, and every plot twist tore my heart in two.

I've honestly been so surprised by how much I've enjoyed this series. I truly expected to find these to be less than average, for all my reviews to be three stars, and for me to ultimately dislike them. I checked out the whole trilogy from the library, because that's how sure I was that I wouldn't enjoy them. However, that evidently was not true. And I must say that for a high fantasy series, it's really not all that hard to get into. It takes off running from the get-go.

Would I recommend this book to you? Yes! A hundred yeses because it was really, truly great. I had so much fun reading this entire series, and I'm super excited to jump into Six of Crows and immerse myself back into this world that I've grown to love. A solid four stars to Ruin and Rising.