Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #3)

This is the third and final installment in the original Grisha series, and as much as I enjoyed / was intrigued after that first book, it was unfortunately all downhill from there I was determined to finish it though, mostly because I am very much interested in reading Six of crows duology, and it takes place some years after this trilogy in the same world, so I wanted to read them in order, but now I think it wasnt necessary will let you know for sure after I read that first book but back to the actual review of the big finale

You guys I am sooooo disappointed because a lot of my thoughts are spoilers not only for the previous books but also for this one, I will share as much of it as I can without many details and then we shall dive into all the spoilery parts 🙂 unfortunately after a pretty good start with that first book at least I thought it was decent, with a lot of potential, the second one was mostly boring unevenly paced, with interesting scenes happening inbetween a long stretches of blah this third one was worse it suffered from the same pacing problem and even though there were some surprising twists and turns that saved it a bit from it being an utterly miserable experience for me (more about that in the spoilery part) it still was only 2,5 stars for me there was a lot of build up to what I was expecting to be an epic battle at the end and it just fizzled out :/ I never really liked Alina as the main character I sort of liked / tolerated her in that first book, but I was not a fan of how her journey unfurled in the sequels she was very whiny and undecided, changing her mind all the time I never quite understood why all those guys couldnt resist her, but ultimately I think the one she ended up with was the best choice for her (again, more about that below, in the spoilery section) the ending felt rushed and even though I liked the direction it went, the details could have been handled much better ok, thats all I can say without spoilers, so now lets dive into the more interesting parts
.
.
.
.
.
SPOILERS ABOUT THE WOLE SERIES, INCLUDING HOW IT ENDS
.
.
.
.
.
Because I have a lot of thoughts and they are all quite chaotic, I will try my best to at least put them in points of some sort 😉

#1 the writing style – there is a lot of potential here, and I am hoping that the Six of crows duology will be better especially when it comes to secondary characters and some witty dialogue parts, I am crossing my fingers I will enjoy her later books more I also wished that we could saw some other perspectives besides just Alinas especially since she wasnt the best main character I would have loved to be able to see inside the minds of some other people

#2 Alina – like I said, I wasnt her biggest fan as the main character shes whiny and undecided, going back and forth between I just want to be a normal girl and I am a powerful Sun Summonner and I want more power, give me the amplifiers not to mention her indecision between I love Mal and only him, lets just be together and the Darkling is the only one who can understand me, because we are alike with our powers AND I should agree to Nikolais proposal and rule as a queen by his side because its best for Ravka GAH!!! just make up your damn mind and stick to it she constantly changed her mind and it grew old pretty quickly the same thing goes with her powers she couldnt summon her powers on her own at the beginning (only with Darklings help) until she realized that it was her who supressed it when she was a young girl so she wouldnt have to leave Mal in the orphanage and after she remembered that it was magically unblocked just like that *snaps fingers* her powers in general are just weird, as in the way she handles it because its either she struggles for weeks or months to learn to do something or she just does it at the first try :/ the more I got into the story, the more annoyed I was by her

#3 Mal – out of the three guys that were interested in her, Im glad she ended up with Mal I didnt have that many problems with him as some other readers appeared to have had I dont think he wanted to see her powerless, but I hated that he suffered, although not as much as Alina, with the case of I want to be with you but it will be better for our country if we wont be together, cause you are destined for better things ugh and dont even get me started on him being the third and final amplifier it was an interesting idea, but not really executed very well, at least in my opinion not to mention him being brought back to life after Alina killed him to access bigger powers to defeat the Darkling I thought that bringing people back from the dead was almost impossible and not really possible to access by all Grisha, but maybe I misunderstood stuff :/

#4 the Darkling – he was a really good villain, mostly because you could not only understand his motivation but also agree with his point of view dont get me wrong, he was still brutal and ruthless, killing without hesitation or remorse, for what he believed to be necessary reasons to achieve his goal and mostly because of that, I really would have loved to get his perspective in the books he feels this connection to Alina and sees her as his opposite and equal, someone to balance him out at least Im assuming thats why hes so obsessed with her and convincing her to join him the ending of his story is very disappointing, but I will get into more about that a bit further down

#5 Nikolai – hands down my favourite character in the whole trilogy, the bastard prince of Ravka, originally introduced to us as a pirate captain 🙂 hes very smart, utterly charming and clever 🙂 I loved him and will probably at some point pick up the duology all about him mostly because I am very interested how he will deal with what he experienced with being changed by the Darkling into sort of a monster hes left with scars and darkness inside him alongside Darkling hes the most interesting character in the whole trilogy and again, I would have loved to get his perspective especially because hes so charming but also calculated and always thinking of how to best use all that is available for him, including people and their powers I could understand why he wanted to seek an alliance with Alina because of her powers, but couldnt really understand why he liked her as a person Im hearing some opinions that apparently Zoya is a potential love interest for him in his own story and I can understand that one so much better Im not sure if its true so dont quote me on that, but I would love to see those interactions 😉

#6 the ending – like I already mentioned, the whole series had a start full of potential that never really went anywhere the sequels were uneven and disappointing, but not as much as the every ending of the third one I assumed we were building towards this epic finale / battle and what we got was *sighs* Alina, Mal and a very small group of Grisha and not very experienced soldiers facing the Darkling and his Grisha soldiers in the Fold and dont even get me started on how magically and out of the blue some Grisha came up with how they can hide themselves with some trick with the sound that I still dont understand not only they could hide from the Volcra but they were also able to communicate with each other even if they werent close to one another I was rolling my eyes so hard at this not to mention that just like Alina and some of her tricks, they were able to pick it up very quickly I liked how the Darkling was connected to Morozova and the idea that Mal is the actual third amplifier was interesting, if it would have been handled better but Alina killing him to defeat the Darkling and then being slammed with additional power for it to immediately disappear was weird it goes to other regular people, all across the land as we later find out, and lots of people get the power of summoning light whats even more weird, all of them know immediately how to use it :/ regular people without any Grisha training right away know how to wield this new and completely unpredictable power and they can vanquish the Fold there was some serious eye rolling at this point and then Alina picks up a Grisha dagger and just kills the Darkling I was just as surprised as he was that this is how his story ends :/ he deserved a much better ending, and I dont mean by that, that he should have lived, but this this whole ending was like watching a firework going up in the sky, when you follow how it ascends and you are waiting for the big boom and then it just never happens *sighs* the official word is Alina died during the battle when in fact she and Mal, now both of them without powers, go back to their home to open up an orphanage it was all very disappointing and blah and I wanted and expected more from the big finale of the trilogy

Like I mentioned, this was a series with a good start and lots of potential that unfortunately fizzled out along the way I am hoping that since these were her first books, that the future ones are better I expect to pick up Six of crows within the next few months, so I will let you know what I think then 😉 although as much as I saw mixed reviews about this one, Ive heard nothing but praises about the sequel duology fingers crossed I will love it 🙂

The writing is excellent, but the story and the characters falter.

The beginning is slow. Alina is hiding. Shes lost the strength of character she developed over the first two books, never to fully regain her inner strength. The Apparat is hiding them and trying to control Alina. Hes a weak antagonist. The Darkling and the world outside the caves is worse than ever, but thats off stage. Alina is going to hunt the firebird, but that adventure doesnt begin right away. When Nikolai returns to help her, the story begins in earnest, and hes charming, witty, and injected action back into the story. The later half of the book works better than the first half.

For me, and I realize that many readers will find Mel a heartthrob, he doesnt live up to the potential I saw in the first book. The Darkling still has power over Alina, which ads some tension to the story. Alinas choices seem more like the middle book of a trilogy.

The romance gets settled; however, theres a Deus ex Machina wrap up that left me unsatisfied. I felt Alina took the easy way out.

In YA fantasy, romance is mandatory. I usually ignore that part of the YA genre because the outcome is always predictable with little variation. Theres a pattern to these romances, and Ruin and Rising follows the safe path, which is a shame because the ending could have been much more powerful.

I think I regret starting this series. The first book started this series with such promise but its been all downhill since. The second book was stagnation that carried over into this book. Most of these two books are just waiting. This vast interesting world with so many characters that carried such potential were wasted. Not much happens until the end but even that is brief. The author spends too much time on wallowing and lamenting. It got to the point that I did not care about any of them. Even when a character I liked was faced with a horrible fate it did not matter because their potential had been so squandered. I found myself bored as this story dragged on. The ending seems fitting if perhaps too easy. Read this if you want to finish up this series but if you find yourself wondering if its worth it then I say its not. If you are skimming reviews of this series before starting I say dont bother.

A great ending to the trilogy. Ruin and Rising is captivating, full-on action, heart-gripping moments and twists that will make your jaw drop. This is by far my favourite instalment of this saga.

The world-building is yet again fabulous. Leigh Bardugo has created amazing imagery that enthrals the reader and she vividly portrays every scene with architectural details, local legends and stories, meticulous descriptions of landscapes and fantastic, creepy and deadly creatures. All these details give a special charm to the story.

After her last confrontation with the Darkling, Alina has transformed a lot. She is no longer the vulnerable girl from the previous volumes; she has become a skilled strategist, a fighter/a leader/ a saint who arouses admiration and fear in allies and enemies alike. The road ahead is not an easy one, but with Mal, Nikolai and her Grisha friends by her side, she always pushes on. I appreciate Mal for his devotion to Alina, though I still can’t see them as lovers. He becomes the hero who sacrifices himself out of love and loyalty, driven by honour and duty. He puts Alina before anyone else, above his own life, without a second thought. As for the Darkling, he will forever be my favourite in this story. He remains true to his nature until the end. A veritable foe who does not seek redemption and won’t apologize for his actions (I wouldn’t imagine him in any other way). And that ending was a genuine surprise.

Magical, seductive, surprising and devastating, Ruin and Rising has definitely surpassed all my expectations. I am looking forward to reading the other books set in the Grishaverse.

I enjoyed this series but the last installment really let it down. It was rushed and lacked the scope of other fantasy stories. I still can’t imagine the setting. Severe lack of description.
The narrative is so wrapped up in Alina’s boy trouble that the real issues are left to one side. The political plots could have made this really interesting and given a real look at what is at stake. Instead it’s a monologue of a bratty teen who is more interested in who fancies her.
The last chapter signposted that this whole story was about “love”. I never got that. Alina’s relationships are all so flawed that I couldn’t really root for any of them.
There is a lot of love out there for all the male characters and every one has their favourite. But each use Alina for their own gain, the plot twist about the amplifier just made it even more problematic and the end made me so angry. Can a female character not have power that is all her own? Why is it always somehow given or made greater or even suppressed and taken away by a man?
Another issue I have is that the characters never really get fleshed out. The first book got me excited about the villain who seemed like a great character, the second book made me think he was the only thing that made this book interesting as there was a real attempt to question Alina’s feelings and his motives and he was a strong baddie. The third turned the ancient powerful and initially very menacing figure in to a spoilt child. Maybe that was the point?

Books like these live and die by the quality of the heroes and the aura of the baddies.
The heroes were too wrapped up in eachother to see the big picture had no real conviction and simply react to situations. The baddie was turned from a seriously creepy and charismatic villain to a pantomime figure.

The series flops down dead.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member