Title: Ruin and Rising
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Type: Fiction
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Date published: June 17, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 432
Source: Library

Summary: The capital has fallen. 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.
Ruin and Rising is the thrilling final installment in Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy. This title has Common Core connections.

THE PERFECT ENDING TO A GREAT SERIES!

I will not be discussing the writing, world building, or character depth in this review, as I have already stated my thoughts on those aspects of the trilogy in my reviews of Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm. So as to not be repetitive, this review will in fact be a mini review since I will be focusing only on the plot (while avoiding spoilers) and character development (while also avoiding spoilers).

Like I said in my review of Siege and Storm, I had gone into reading that book expecting it to possibly be slower than the first or third books, since that tends to happen with the 2nd book in a trilogy. And I was right. Even though things were happening, I felt the end of the series looming over everything, distracting me from the little plots within the main plot. When this happens, it is in no way the fault of the author, and readers should be impressed enough when the sequels in trilogies are good enough to make them move on to the third and last book in a trilogy.

The first quarter of the third book, the one which I am reviewing now, was interesting to read, as it explained what had happened to all of the characters we became attached to in book 2. But even so, I was eager to enter that final phase of the overall plot. While I wanted to remain immersed in this world which Bardugo has created, I also really wanted to know how she would wrap it up. I wanted to know if she would break my heart or make it so that I had a smile on my face while reading the last page.

I will not tell you what my mood was when I closed this book for the last time, as this may spoil the story for those of you who have not yet read it, but I will say that she managed to surprise me in how well she wrapped everything up. The obstacles which the characters had to face were so many and so seemingly-impossible to overcome that I had no idea how Bardugo would finish the story without leaving me either seething mad, or a weeping and blubbering mess. Bardugo kept me guessing until the very end, and I really appreciated that, as I do not enjoy predictable stories as much as unpredictable ones.

I was also impressed with the character development in this book, as well as the multifaceted aspect of each character. Bardugo really knows how to explore the positive and negative of both protagonists and antagonists, making it difficult to see the personages in her stories as distinctly “good” or “bad.”

An impressive ending to the trilogy, displaying Bardugo’s skill at creating fantasy worlds, complex characters, and her impressive imagination in general!

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THANK YOU FOR READING MY REVIEW! HAVE YOU READ RUIN AND RISING BY LEIGH BARDUGO? WHAT DID YOU THINK? AND IF YOU HAVEN’T READ IT YET, DO YOU WANT TO, OR NOT? HOWCOME? LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!