Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

6 reviews

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 🫠

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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

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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

emilywemily6's review

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.5

I’m conflicted about this rating because I feel like the reading experience was so much more fun for this book because there were twists and turns at every chapter and I could not put this book down- BUT- some of the things that happened to Nikolai and Mal and even a little bit of Alina bothered me at the end of the book. There were some tropes and cop outs that made the ending tie up too nicely, especially with how much build up there was to the climax of the final battle. I still love how much nuance the Darkling has. And while I liked Mal better in this book than the last, I am team Nikolai all the way!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, Murder, War, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual content, Racism, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Child abuse, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

bubbly_lara's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-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? No

5.0

I absolutely loved this. All the stars, 10/10, highly recommend this series! I literally did not know what to do with myself for hours after finishing it. We meet Alina

and the group of survivors in the White Cathedral

right where "Siege and Storm" ended. We follow along as they grow together as a group and plan their escape from underground to find Nikolai and his troops in order to face the Darkling and save Ravka. They venture on the journey to find the third amplifier while they learn more about the Darklings past, Ilya Morozova and how it is all interconnected. At the end of the day, they must each choose whether they can live with the price to be paid to end this war.

"What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men."

For a moment there, I thought my little heart could not take how the story was unfolding. In what the Darkling decided on as a punishment for

Nikolai

we see once more how cruel he can truly be. The moments between

Alina and Nikolai in his monster form

made my heart ache for the both of them and the choices they must make. Also, how could I not talk about Alina and Mal.

For a moment there, I thought they would not get to live the life they both want and deserve. What with Mal being the Third Amplifier and both of them knowing he must die in order for Alina to absorb the power within Mal. No words, just heartbreak. I did love the epilogue and how they rebuilt Keramzin to be a better home for others than it was for them. Zoya handing Alina blue Grisha robes with the note "You will always be one of us" makes me tear up even writing this review.

.

Please do yourself a favour and go read this series. It deserves all the hype it's getting. I cannot wait to go dive back into the Grishaverse with "Six of Crows" next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Cursing, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, and War

Moderate: Suicide, Child death, Sexual assault, Animal death, Rape, Sexual violence, and Vomit

rayne_1906's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

3 hours 30 minutes - This was a well-written, engaging conclusion to the series. It contained good plot-twists that seem to come out of nowhere but make sense once you think about it. The characters mostly seem realistic, although there were times where I felt some improvement could be made. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, Medical content, and War

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Grief, and Gun violence

valyn_grebe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

I loved the ending.  It just seemed so right and well written.  However, I was expecting more characters to die, so it’s not a completely realistic ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Gun violence, Grief, and Medical content

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Vomit