Reviews with content warning for Grief - Ruin and Rising

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

94 reviews

effy's review against another edition

3.5

Whilst I still don't really like

Mal and Alina as endgame (I would have loved Nikolai and Alina as the eventual pairing),

the ending of this series did not bother me, I think maybe because it felt as though they had earned their peace. In a lot of ways, it was quite bittersweet because

Alina had loved being Grisha but the epilogue did paint a beautiful picture of life where their friends still visited.

I am frustrated that this book featured

the resurrection trope - even if the reasoning seemed pretty solid - and the fact that the price of war wasn't very severe

felt like a missed opportunity but I guess overall this series has not shied away from character death so minimal deaths in the final battle was okay, I guess.

My review seemed to have mostly been griping but those were my only real issues with a book that was actually a pretty compulsive listen and kept me guessing for most of the story.

I also loved how much Nikolai and Genya we got!

Favourite quote:

I am not ruined, I am ruination.

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ceilidhwilliams's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

3.0

rather dull, the audiobook is awful

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konstantina's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring 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

3.75

An ending to a marvelous trilogy.

The

"heroine loses her powers at the end"

is one of the plots that I really hate, but I have to admit that it was done beautifully in this case. I don't consider this a happy ending, but it doesn't have to be. The character growth in this book is excellent, and provides the most human villain I've read of. I would be able to enjoy it more and give it a higher score, if Mal was not just another uninteresting love interest.

The grishaverse has so much to offer, and if you're reading this as a new fan, be aware that the next ones are even better!

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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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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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trintrin's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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

Easily my favourite of the three. I loved Mal so much more in this one

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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bree_022's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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ryankaybee's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad 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

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rose_88's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I enjoyed the book, and think it was a good ending to the trilogy. I liked how some of the plot twists seemed like they had been festering for some time

like the Darkling’s relation to Morozova

or some seems to come out of nowhere

like Mal being the third and final amplifier

. Once again, I think the book was very much a ‘we did this, and then we did this’. It felt like we were just being told what was happening in some parts, like when they were in the run and hunting the Firebird.

One thing I liked was how Nikolai was portrayed. This book showed how he was willing to step up, even though he shouldn’t have never to. I absolutely adored how the King’s actions against Genya were handelnd and how Nikolai was ready to persecute him for them. I thought his fate of becoming one of the Darkling’s monsters was so sad, and wished there was more of him in the later parts of the book. I liked how he addressed the fact that he is actually a bastard, and in turn has no real claim to the throne, I’m really excited to see how that is handled and what he does in his own series, Rule of Wolves, especially because I know we get to see more of Zoya, who was just an absolute mood and girlboss during the whole series.

I thought it was a bit fast and could have been drawn out more, like their time at the Spinning Wheel, and then them running from the Darkling. I felt that Baghra was severely underused, as was Nikolai and Genya. I really didn’t see as much of them as i would have liked, and am still really curious about Baghra, her life, and The Darkling’s life before he created the Fold, and even before he met Alina.

I will say, I loved Mal and Alina’s relationship in this book, definitely more so than in the last one. They actually talked to each other, granted it took them a very long time to get their heads out of their asses, and they were able to confess their love and u der stand how much they felt for each other. I loved how after the battle they were able to just leave and go back to where they grew up with Micha and the cat and live a simple life. And j was SO HAPPY that Nikolai, Genya, David and Zoya still came to visit them.

Not a bad ending to the trilogy, and I cant wait to read Six of Crows, or the Rule of Wolves series.

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