Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Ruína e Ascensão by Leigh Bardugo

149 reviews

gabthebookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Blood

patchedspines's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, and Grief

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Addiction

glund_01's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault

Minor: Blood

jackacj's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Slavery

Minor: Vomit

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

This is the least annoying Alina has ever been 😅 I sped through this book and I loved that Mal and Alina weren’t together for the most part. They finally stopped whining about each other and the romance wasn’t a large focus. I was feeling great about this book until chapter 15/16.

The ending felt rushed and honestly I’m mad about it. Why is it ending this way?! It makes no sense to me and is the only reason it gets a lower rating because before the last 3 chapters it would’ve been a 4-4.5 star book!

The pacing was so good throughout the book, much better than the other two, right up until the last 50ish pages. I’m in the minority opinion it seems but book 2 was the best book imo, then this and then book 1 🫠

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Blood, War, Medical content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Rape

undecidedpersonality's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Classism, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Animal death, Medical content, and Sexual harassment

ladygetslit's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Series Overall: fell a bit flat for me. I never felt connected to the characters, despite being shoved in Alina’s head the whole time. I never felt myself rooting for her relationship with Mal. To be honest, I think if I had read this series years ago and before reading Bardugo’s other books, I might not be so disappointed, but this was clearly her first major go at it. The storyline itself and the world is amazing, but the execution just wasn’t it for me. I’m still glad I read it though! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Blood and Animal death

mckiheather's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gore, Misogyny, Alcohol, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Sexual content, and Suicide

filipacmiranda's review against another edition

3.75

Ruin and Rising starts strong with Alina, Mal and all the other Grisha hiding in the White Cathedral, growing Alina's holly following, and escaping the Apparat's schemes. After that, they head towards the Spinning Wheel and reunite with Nikolai. These events also bring back Baghra and a few other (not so) beloved characters. 

Regarding characters, this book creates a few important arcs that open doors for the King of Scars duology. I also enjoyed reading about the group's journey towards the Spinning Wheel and their expedition looking for the Firebird. It allowed space to watch them grow tighter and learn to work together as a team. Despite this, I have liked the Alina-Darkling interactions to be more deeply explored, in the sense that I wanted them to better build up to the ending the author designed for both characters. 

Finally, the Darkling's and Mal's fates annoyed me. While the first one's death was mundane and, in a way, didn't seem fitting for the character's relevance throughout the story, the other's survival sounded unlikely and was poorly explained. I appreciated the trilogy's ending and how it turned into a full-circle moment for the main character, but I believe a few tweaks could have made it more memorable.

---

1st Read (2020): 4.25 stars 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Toxic relationship

justagirlwithbooks's review against another edition

3.25

"They had an ordinary life, full of ordinary things—if love can ever be called that."

I can't believe I actually managed to read this book in one day! There were parts I liked, parts that I didn't like, but all in all I liked the ending to this trilogy. There were quite a few quotes that I liked too, more in this book compared to the other two. I'm looking forward to reading King of Scars and seeing where Nikolai's story picks up.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Violence