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A review by k_winchester
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I certainly did not expect things to go how they did in this one!! I will say, I feel like I overall didn't enjoy this one *as much as* the second one - a good portion of the felt little a bit of slog to get through, and I struggled to keep my attention on it.
And I did feel like the final battle somehow was too... I hesitate to say "simple", because it wasn't exactly, but maybe it just wasn't quite long enough to have that really earned punch-in-the-gut?? It kind of was more like, "Oh... oh man, it's over." That's it. And given how intertwined Alina and The Darkling have been up to this story, it was a bit surprising how separated they ended up feeling in the end, despite all the parallels, connections, and Alina learning more about who he once was.
That being said, the parts that were engaging were awesome and threw me for some loops. I did not see a few of the twists coming, I certainly did not see ANY part of Nikolai's story coming, and I really wasn't sure how Alina was going to end up in the end...!! I pretty much couldn't stop reading the last quarter because I needed to know how on earth it would end!
Leigh always has gorgeous writing regardless, and I *did* enjoy this. I honestly was expecting a much more tragic ending the way things were trending through this book, so I was really relieved to see it end more bittersweet.
And I did feel like the final battle somehow was too... I hesitate to say "simple", because it wasn't exactly, but maybe it just wasn't quite long enough to have that really earned punch-in-the-gut?? It kind of was more like, "Oh... oh man, it's over." That's it. And given how intertwined Alina and The Darkling have been up to this story, it was a bit surprising how separated they ended up feeling in the end, despite all the parallels, connections, and Alina learning more about who he once was.
That being said, the parts that were engaging were awesome and threw me for some loops. I did not see a few of the twists coming, I certainly did not see ANY part of Nikolai's story coming, and I really wasn't sure how Alina was going to end up in the end...!! I pretty much couldn't stop reading the last quarter because I needed to know how on earth it would end!
Leigh always has gorgeous writing regardless, and I *did* enjoy this. I honestly was expecting a much more tragic ending the way things were trending through this book, so I was really relieved to see it end more bittersweet.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death, and Injury/Injury detail