Title:
Ruin and Rising
(The Grisha #3)
Ruin and Rising
(The Grisha #3)
Author:
Leigh Bardugo
★★★☆☆
3 out of 5 stars
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.
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 third and final installment of the Grisha Trilogy, a book series than in my opinion lacked a strong main character, an actual smart villain, some serious world building and a more interesting plot. Don't get me wrong, all the ingredients were there, however, nothing much ever happened, and I am going to explain you why I think this way:
1. The main character, Alina Starkov. A plain non-interesting girl ultimately in love with her childhood friend turns out to have more power within her than she could have ever imagined. However, she has such a low self-esteem that the constant comparisons about her physical beauty to other's become ultimately annoying. Half way through the trilogy one would think her sudden power for hunger would make her more interesting, make her darker, but no, she is still the same insecure girl with no actual ambitions in life.
2. Alexander Morozova, A.K.A. The Darkling. He was my favorite character when I started this series. I thought he was absolutely intriguing, and a charming manipulator. He played with Alina in order to get what he wanted from her, and he almost did, I thought that was smart of him. Then book after book he would get fooled and not by the brightest plans -or people- which made me wonder if he was ever as smart as the reader was supposed to think. He clearly wasn't. And it is not that I wanted him to succeed, but I wanted him to make things harder on everyone else.
3. World building. I don't get why the mythology wasn't explained thoroughly, the world itself was fantastic and yet the author didn't use it in order to make the story grow. I wanted to know how Ravka works, to immerse myself in that world.
4. The plot. The story itself fell more character-driven, where the mythical creatures that everyone was looking for since book one were just mere fashion objects for our heroine to wear and grow in power, a power that wasn't really that important in the end, why? because the Darkling wasn't as bright as one would like to think.
I admit Ruin and Rising was painful to read, I wanted to skip not just pages but entire chapters until I got towards the end. I thought -and I might be one of the few who think this way- that the ending itself was satisfying. Why? Well, Alina never really wanted more from life than what she had at the beginning, she was very honest about what she felt and who she loved, and that was what she got, and guys, there is nothing wrong with that. Now that I think about it, the prologues and the epilogues were my favorite parts of all the Grisha trilogy, interesting...
All in all, I admit this wasn't my favorite trilogy, but I didn't despise it either, it was just average, the ending to me saved this book from a lower rating and I don't have any problem admitting to it.
Was this review helpful? Did you like this series? Are you lovers or haters of the Grisha-verse? Should I read Six of Crows? Let me know in the comments below and read you guys later.
Happy reading.
1. The main character, Alina Starkov. A plain non-interesting girl ultimately in love with her childhood friend turns out to have more power within her than she could have ever imagined. However, she has such a low self-esteem that the constant comparisons about her physical beauty to other's become ultimately annoying. Half way through the trilogy one would think her sudden power for hunger would make her more interesting, make her darker, but no, she is still the same insecure girl with no actual ambitions in life.
2. Alexander Morozova, A.K.A. The Darkling. He was my favorite character when I started this series. I thought he was absolutely intriguing, and a charming manipulator. He played with Alina in order to get what he wanted from her, and he almost did, I thought that was smart of him. Then book after book he would get fooled and not by the brightest plans -or people- which made me wonder if he was ever as smart as the reader was supposed to think. He clearly wasn't. And it is not that I wanted him to succeed, but I wanted him to make things harder on everyone else.
3. World building. I don't get why the mythology wasn't explained thoroughly, the world itself was fantastic and yet the author didn't use it in order to make the story grow. I wanted to know how Ravka works, to immerse myself in that world.
4. The plot. The story itself fell more character-driven, where the mythical creatures that everyone was looking for since book one were just mere fashion objects for our heroine to wear and grow in power, a power that wasn't really that important in the end, why? because the Darkling wasn't as bright as one would like to think.
I admit Ruin and Rising was painful to read, I wanted to skip not just pages but entire chapters until I got towards the end. I thought -and I might be one of the few who think this way- that the ending itself was satisfying. Why? Well, Alina never really wanted more from life than what she had at the beginning, she was very honest about what she felt and who she loved, and that was what she got, and guys, there is nothing wrong with that. Now that I think about it, the prologues and the epilogues were my favorite parts of all the Grisha trilogy, interesting...
All in all, I admit this wasn't my favorite trilogy, but I didn't despise it either, it was just average, the ending to me saved this book from a lower rating and I don't have any problem admitting to it.
Was this review helpful? Did you like this series? Are you lovers or haters of the Grisha-verse? Should I read Six of Crows? Let me know in the comments below and read you guys later.
Happy reading.
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