Reviews with content warning for Murder - Ruin and Rising

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

118 reviews

fionamatilda's review

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adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

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orenji_juice's review

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adventurous funny medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Spoilers have been hidden - reveal at your own discretion.

A nice wrap up to the series, despite its major flaws. Starting off positively, I loved the dry humour and witty moments between characters in this book, it actually made me smile. I also loved every character apart from the main ones (Mal, Alina and the Darkling). However, there were two major problems in this book: the romance and Alina. Specifically, the love square. Yes, you heard me. A square. If you don't like love triangles, this book is not for you. While I understand that Alina is struggling with her feelings for Mal, Nikolai and the Darkling, the love triangle has progressed to a square since book 1 and has slowly gotten worse. Until Alina realises that Mal is special

(an amplifier)

she doesn't want to love him. Then when she finds out this information, they IMMEDIATELY start acting like lovers again. Hunny, this isn't love. You're USING him. She also toys with Nikolai's feelings. But the Darkling and Alina is by far the worst romance in this book. Yes, they both feel different. Yes, they both are lonely. But that doesn't give the Darkling a reason to rape Alina, and for Alina to crave his attention??? Excuse me???? This problem sort of started from book 2, but I am mentioning it in this review because it has not ceased.
Moving on from the love square, Alina as a character is just not good. The other characters go through character growth, but Alina does not; she actually goes backwards. I don't mind characters who go backwards, as long as they realise their mistakes and grow from it. Yet no, not for Alina. She is recklessly ambitious, self-absorbed and petty. Focussing a bit on her relationship with her friend Mal, he has sacrificed so much to be with her, and has even regressed a bit in book 2 but recovered in this one (character progression, yay!). Alina on the other hand, acts like her life is the most troubled life of all time.

I think Nikolai as an evil fairy is having a worse time, and even more so especially after sending away his parents, that aren't really his parents, and having to deal with this information.

Even in book 2, Alina also gets into petty fights with Mal and lacks the ability to recognise her own faults. Most of the fights are to do with him thinking he is too 'normal' for her and Alina thinking she is 'special'. Alina even allows him to think like this <spoiler and sends him away when he confesses his love to her in book 3. Like I said previously, she prioritises power over love as evident in book 2 and 3, but fails to learn any life lesson.

Hell, she even kills Mal and only morns him when she realises that she has lost her powers.

I know it sounds like I am being negative, but these flaws hindered my perception on this novel and even the previous one; I think it had the potential to be a 4-5 star book. However, I love the world and will consider reading Six of Crows :)

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toastyghosty13's review

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

I felt that this book actually started off pretty strong and was much better than the previous book of this series for the first half of it. As the book drew to a close, it felt too slow and too rushed in parts.

One thing that bothered me was that

Mal was the third amplifier. This just seemed strange to me, especially when the idea of Morozova and his normal daughter surviving being drowned in chains is a huge reach, on top of the fact that Mal is some supposed descendant of the daughter. I found this to be a weird plot point, but I guess it can work.

Something that really bothered me that stems from this is that when Alina killed Mal to try to use him as the last amplifier as a last resort, she lost all of her power and it was reflected in all of the other normal citizens instead. I found this very cheesy and a weird way to take it. I doubt I am the only one that wanted to see Alina go super saiyan on the darkling in some massive showdown, so this was a huge letdown to me.

I did not realize how many people would die off, nor did I realize that they had even died until spoken about in past tense.

Harshaw is one of these, plus Ruby and some others that were from the final battle and the battle at spinning wheel. I think all of these characters got done dirty, plus Genya got done dirty for no reason, in my opinion. Same goes for Botkin and anyone that was defending the orphanage; I feel that that was totally unnecessary for them to die and did not really add anything to the plot.

The end bothered me unbelievably.

Leigh pulled a Game of Thrones, where we are all expecting some epic showdown just for the big ending move to be getting stabbed in the heart by some forgotten dagger. This was boring and a disappointing cop out, since she is the main character and I expected a lot more for the final scene.

The afterward I actually quite liked. It was quaint, and pretty wholesome. I enjoy that

they still have contact with everyone that stayed on to be advisors to Nikolai in the palace and that Alina and Mal are not just cut off from the world completely. They opened an orphanage that they really care about and are able to reminisce whenever old friends from the palace come by to visit. Overall a great afterward.

I have heard that the other duologies are a lot better than this. I am pretty disappointed with the turn this series took after how much I enjoyed the first book. I have the boxset so I will at least be reading The Six of Crows Duology since I already own it. I would not purchase King of Scars unless Six of Crows makes a huge turnaround of what Shadow and Bone left me feeling.

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hayleythegoose's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

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louise_outthere's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

Well like the second book I had a hard time getting into it, only around 200 pages it started to be interesting. But what an end! Those twists actually made it worth it. It was worth reading the second book (boring) and the first half of this one also boring. After all it’s still a good trilogy, not my favorite though.

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lia_24's review

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adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.25

Definitely my favorite book out of the trilogy. The ending was sort of bittersweet.
Not enough Nikolai content for my liking but then again, what is 'enough Nikolai content'? Such a thing doesn't exist.
Also, Mal and Alina were wayyy less annoying in this one. I actually found myself rooting for them.

but honestly, killing Harshaw was just unnecessary. He deserved to live a long, happy life with his cat

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I wanted to read this series as it seems like a staple part of Booktok. Everyone has read it and with the series being out now, it gave me a push to finally move my ass and read this series. I feel like none of the books in this series stood out to me and they were all just at the same level. None of them stood out to me.

This book started where the last one ended. The capital has fallen. The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne. Now the nation’s fate rests with Alina who is a broken Sun Summoner, Mal who is a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once great magical army. But, deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, Alina is under the protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the firebird and the hope that the 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 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 future she’s fighting for.

The book and series dragged. I was so disappointed. Mal finally had a personality in this book that because he was planning to die. Alina just couldn’t make her mind up, one minute she wants Mal, then she wants to do right and marry Nikolai. Both of the guys putting pressure of her and then you’ve got the Darkling talking to her and threatening to kill her. Alina was built over the past two books to become this strong and brave woman and become a Saint and then the ending was just like her going back to the beginning and being like I don’t know what to do and need a prince to save me. Like how do you go from fighting everyone to just giving up. I don’t think Mal and Alina had a lot of chemistry and the relationship felt forced especially when she was getting along with the Darkling and Nikolai better than Mal.

The one person that saved this book and series was Nikolai Lantsov and he wasn’t in the book for most of the middle part where all the action and the depth was. I loved Genya and David’s relationship and that’s what I wanted for Mal and Alina and it just never happened. Also, I was still rooting for the Darkling.

I think the main issue I had with this series is that I was waiting for some big reveal or big plot twist and it was just flat the whole way through. I've heard that Six of Crows is better so hopefully it is.

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mia_luvsreading's review

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adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

2.0

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david_slack110507's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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? Yes

4.25

A year ago today, I received this book trilogy as a birthday gift and eventually got around to reading this starting the first book in August and finishing it in October before leaving the series for a little while and then picking it back up at the start of this year in which within a couple of months I would have started and finished the second book and now finally I have finished the third and final book in this trilogy.

Normally, I don't often finish book series that I start, or I take a while to do so (Like with these books) usually due to being interested in other books or just not wanting to continue the series right away but I'm very happy that I persevered after the first book because for me at least this trilogy kept on getting better and better with each instalment and each one managed to hold together my interest a whole lot better whether that was because what was happening was more interesting in each book or that when reading the 2nd and 3rd books I mainly read those and no other ones at the same time I don't know but I feel like this is one of the rare times that I read a series/trilogy that increased in quality with each instalment.

The characters are at their strongest in this book with formally side characters such as Zoya and David getting their own developments that make them just as endearing as our main characters. I feel like the plot twists and turns were interesting and unexpected and I actually quite liked the ending even if it did have a happy ending that felt kind of YA. I do wish that Alina had somehow ended up with Nikolai who for me was the much more interesting and endearing love interest but it was obvious that with their shared history, Mal and Alina would be the ending place in terms of relationship wise but I do feel like each relationship while they did not have an air about them with it being unpredictable about who Alina would end up with, they did have their own dynamics unique to them.

The action was actually pretty good even if the ending battle was a little short and I do like that the book for me was actually pretty fast-paced and engaging throughout. I am very much looking forward to reading the other books in the Grishaverse, particularly the Six of Crows duology soon-to-be trilogy which I will unashamedly admit was the main reason as to why I read these books so that I would have the background context for those books however I'm glad that I read these because not only did I really enjoy this story overall but it also introduced me to Nikolai and his character who has his own spin-off duology which will most likely end up on my tbr list soon.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and this series as a whole and I'm glad that I stuck through with it when reading the 2nd and 3rd books. I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of the Grishaverse books and also finally watching season 2 of the Netflix show soon without spoilers for the ending of the trilogy.

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talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

1.25

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