ruin and rising by Leigh Bardugo

2nd book of 2021

Third and last book of Shadow and Bone series

Reading period: Jan 1st 2021 – Jan 4th 2021

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.

Rating

Review

How to say that? I am glad to have finished this trilogy so I can start with the King of Scars duology.

I know it’s a bit harsh to start a review like this, but I wasn’t a big fan of this last book. If it weren’t for Leigh Bardugo’s writing style (which is stunning, btw), the world-building and just because I wanted to know the end, I would have DNF it.

I found that the book goes everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I was sometimes struggling to finish chapters as they were too slow and lengthy. Surprisingly, the book’s pace was so fast that I was a little taken aback by it.

Also, can we talk about the quest to find the firebird, that you have on the cover and the end of it? I wasn’t expecting it, and I didn’t like how this significant part of the story is closed. Since the first book, the characters are tracking amplifiers; it’s one of this series’s primary concerns, and it finishes like this?

I will not talk about the romance you have throughout the whole series; I am not fond of this one. It could have been a friendship or a siblings-like relationship I would have been much happier.

Nevertheless, even if I am not a fan of the series’s closure, I think it is the most logical and true to the characters and the whole story.

Even if I was ranting in this review, I am happy to have read (and finished) this trilogy before starting the King of Scars.

Liz.