Reviews with content warning for Violence - Ruin and Rising

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Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

192 reviews

jordynreads_33's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

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valpyre's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

3.0

a perfectly fine but honestly underwhelming finale to this series. i will say that there were a few moments that actually got me emotional, like

baghra's sacrifice

. and as has been my experience throughout the entire series, mal and alina's on-off again romance did nothing for me, and i found the connection between alina and the darkling much more compelling (even tho the darkling did some real fucked shit in this one lol)

i did really enjoy most of the surrounding cast in this book -- i liked the way they never really felt like an afterthought to the plot or in big action-y moments.

however, i began putting together the "big twist"

i.e. Mal being the third amplifier

sometime around siege and storm, so that reveal didn't do much for me. after finishing the series, i realised that the whole thing had a very fairytale-like feel to it, especially with the Before/After bits in each installment and that just wasn't my vibe to be honest.

still, it was a fine experience to read through the trilogy and i liked much of the worldbuilding, which is often my dealbreaker in other fantasy settings.

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prettynerdy3's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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sxndaze's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.75

It’s a good end to the trilogy. There were some parts that seemed anticlimactic and other parts that were really wild and wonderfully paced. A bittersweet ending that balanced grief and joy.

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themiscyra_anna's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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readingelli's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

4.5

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neko_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.25

I don't really know what I wanted the ending to be. at this point, every possible ending was an option I did not want.

Option 1
Alina saves the Darkling and falls in love with him. listen I found the Darkling's past interesting and he's a great villain but as a love interest? I hate him. if this happened I would have hated the books so much I would have liked to burn them.

Option 2
Alina marries Nickolai and goes into a political marriage. now I love Nickolai, his character, everything about it but there is absolutely nothing between him and Alina. this would just end up being more misery and fighting with mal.

Option 3
Alina kills mal to kill the darkling. Hurray, now she's miserable for the rest of her life.

Option 4
the plan worked out and mal and Alina go off together to get an alliance and work out the rest of the story. this would basically just be a repeat of siege and storm, and that was all-around terrible.

option 5 (what actually happened)
well, I certainly did not expect that. this honestly just feels like a way to end the series with a nice happy ending without really having to go to any work. this is the best ending out of the possibilities but that doesn't mean I like it. I wish Alina hadn't lost her powers and mal hadn't lost his own abilities in the most confusing, convoluted ending ever. I hate that they became completely different people and left behind literally all of their development, but I do love how they ended up at Keramzin.

Now the rest of the characters were actually amazing. The twins, Nickolai, Genya and David, Zoya, Nadia, Adrik, Baghra, Misha, and even Harshaw and Sergei were terrific characters. they are the reviving factor of this story.

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