Reviews with content warning for War - Ruin and Rising

and I'm glad I don't resent Alina ending up with him.

I've read Crooked Kingdom before I read this so I knew Nikolai would survive and that he is the King of Scars but goshhh I genuinely feared for his life when that happened. He is truly the best character that came out of this series and I can't wait to read King of Scars.

I liked the conclusion for the most part. The way the amplifiers worked, the Soldat Sol, the end of the Fold and the Darkling, Alina losing her powers and living a peaceful life away from the crown, Nikolai, Genya, David, and Zoya being the leaders of the future -- all that was great. But there was one part that I didn't really buy. One part that made use of my least favourite trope in the world. The Resurrection Trope. As much as I liked Malina in this book I still wish Mal either stayed dead or didn't have to die in the first place.

But apart from that, a pretty solid, fast-paced ending to the series imo. Leigh's writing is beautiful as always. I would've knocked some points off for the resurrection trope but since I couldn't put this book down and since it made me love Mal ~~though I still wish he were dead~~, I have to give it a 5. And I can't believe I'm saying this but I miss the Darkling already.

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riverlasol's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad medium-paced

5.0

Listen…. was is this book perfect in my eyes? No, it was not, but I am definitely allowing the Grishaverse to generally be some of my favourite books, and for Bardugo to become one of my favourite authors, so it is getting five stars. I will say that from the start of the series, I was a little worried about the main character and there were moments where I felt like she lacked depth, but by the time I got to the third book Alina had had great character development. Alina was essentially a total badass, but she continued to develop in this book, and I really did like the way that this book dealt with grief and loss. I did wish that it had addressed the toxicity of the darkling and especially his abuse to Alina, though. The thing that I loved most about this book was definitely some of the plot twists which I will obviously not be spoiling but I didn’t see any of them coming. this series or the Grisha verse at large might not be for some people but I am ready to wholeheartedly love it and I’m so glad I finally finished this series that is already becoming a modern fantasy classic!

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katiegraham00's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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blancake's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.75

I believe I’m not the right type of audience for this book, and I believe I would be completely obsessed with it were I at the age of 17 to 20.
Now the series is a bit problematic with the way it covers some themes(trauma, grooming, meek/shy main character and don’t get me started on the whole Alina-Mal relationship).
If you are looking for something similar “The hunger games” covers it much better in my opinion

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nmtthews's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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