thejube 's review for:

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
4.0
Wow. Okay. I haven't cried that hard at a book ending in a while. The last 100 pages were a wild ride. However, I took forever to get into this book, because I wasn't all that invested until Nikolai came back (not a huge spoiler. I mean, he has his own series now). I love that bastard. One of my biggest problems with the entire series was that Alina was a good character, but the fact that Mal was IMPOSSIBLE made it so hard to cheer them on. I feel like Mal wasn't a real character until the last 100 pages of this book. But overall, I will admit, this book really got me. Epilogue spoilers ahead.
SpoilerI was really impressed with the execution of the ending. This is the first time I've felt that this style of ending really pulled it off. It was bittersweet, but I believe 100% that it would've been pointless to keep Alina as a Sun Summoner without the Darkling to balance that. I do enjoy this sacrificial style of ending, I'm just disappointed when I find out that the individual regained their powers later (*cough* Bleach, TV shows, etc. *cough). So I did love their "happily ever after".

Now I'm really excited for King of Scars, but I'm so overdue on Six of Crows that that'll be next.