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A review by kylahanley
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
5.0
It going to be so hard to talk about this one but I’ll try my best
This book was definitely my least favorite out of the series but I still enjoyed it for the most part
I had an uneasy feeling at the start of the end of this book I was heartbroken and got this bitter feeling that I can’t quite explain but closer to the end the “after” as it’s written in the book saved the whole book for me because my heart was broken and fixed all at once and I’m so happy with how it ended
While it is in a way bittersweet for me because I won’t be reading the two books about Nikolai I feel it wrapped up in a way where I’m satisfied
Now there are going to be spoilers sprinkled in from here read at your own discretion
I want to talk about the characters here and my thoughts about them
The darkling
So I know he is supposed to be a villain but I don’t hate him I feel like he was just a boy who went down the wrong path and was broken you can really see that when it gets to the end where he dies I got the feeling that he was scared and didn’t want to die
And you could also see how heartbroken he was when he found out Alina lost her powers because now he had no one he can relate to
I know he did really bad things but I just have so much sympathy for him and just thinking about him at the end of the book just breaks my heart
Nikolai
I love Nikolai you could even say I have a crush on him he is charming and funny and I just love everything he brought to the series
And if Alina won’t have him I’ll take him for her at the end of the book you can tell he’s gone threw a lot and he has a lot of scars and he is not quite the same Nikolai we know and love but I hope he will be able to move past it all and get back to a new normal since now he has a lot on his hands
Now for a controversial one
Mal and Alina
I didn’t really like their relationship in this book and I don’t know if it’s because of the long breaks I took from reading this book not because of the content but just because I had to write down what happened so I could tell my cousin I do agree with what some people say about mal like I don’t necessarily believe he loved her in the past as much as he said he did (meaning romantically and other things as well) but no one can really say because we don’t get much of it do know that he at least cared about her I feel like people want mal to be this perfect person (which Is ironic because most people think he’s too perfect but I don’t) but he is not the author made him really realistic he has his own wants and selfish desires just like everyone else on the planet but for some reason when it comes to him almost everyone hates him for it and I think that is wrong he loves Alina more than anything and people villainies him for it
People also complain that Alina couldn’t leave her past behind but what if that’s the person she truly is throughout all the books to me it never even seemed like Alina enjoyed being Grisha all she ever talked about was being normal having all this power never was something she wanted I think Alina just wanted a simple happy life not everyone wants to be queen and rule over a whole bunch of people she never talked about having big dreams and ambitions like if that was part of her character from the beginning then I could understand why people are upset by it because she basically threw it all away but that never seemed like something she wanted all these things were just thrown at her with no warning I think people are having a hard time excepting as that some people just want to be like everyone else without the responsibility of a whole kingdom
Alina seems to only be the sun summoner because she thought that was her duty and she had to fulfill it but she never really wanted it and now that she is regular she is at peace with no more unwanted responsibility she free to be whoever
And how the author put it :
They have an ordinary life filled with ordinary things if love could ever be called that
The friends
I’m so happy that they all are still friends and seems like they will still see each other from time to time
Sadly they didn’t say much about my beloved twins tolya and Tamar but I’m sure there doing just fine
So that’s a wrap folks I really enjoyed my time in this world even though from the beginning I wasn’t thinking much about it I don’t even truly know why I started it in the first place but I’m happy I did
Three five stars for all the books ⭐️<
(Still not watching the show though)
This book was definitely my least favorite out of the series but I still enjoyed it for the most part
I had an uneasy feeling at the start of the end of this book I was heartbroken and got this bitter feeling that I can’t quite explain but closer to the end the “after” as it’s written in the book saved the whole book for me because my heart was broken and fixed all at once and I’m so happy with how it ended
While it is in a way bittersweet for me because I won’t be reading the two books about Nikolai I feel it wrapped up in a way where I’m satisfied
Now there are going to be spoilers sprinkled in from here read at your own discretion
I want to talk about the characters here and my thoughts about them
The darkling
So I know he is supposed to be a villain but I don’t hate him I feel like he was just a boy who went down the wrong path and was broken you can really see that when it gets to the end where he dies I got the feeling that he was scared and didn’t want to die
And you could also see how heartbroken he was when he found out Alina lost her powers because now he had no one he can relate to
I know he did really bad things but I just have so much sympathy for him and just thinking about him at the end of the book just breaks my heart
Nikolai
I love Nikolai you could even say I have a crush on him he is charming and funny and I just love everything he brought to the series
And if Alina won’t have him I’ll take him for her at the end of the book you can tell he’s gone threw a lot and he has a lot of scars and he is not quite the same Nikolai we know and love but I hope he will be able to move past it all and get back to a new normal since now he has a lot on his hands
Now for a controversial one
Mal and Alina
I didn’t really like their relationship in this book and I don’t know if it’s because of the long breaks I took from reading this book not because of the content but just because I had to write down what happened so I could tell my cousin I do agree with what some people say about mal like I don’t necessarily believe he loved her in the past as much as he said he did (meaning romantically and other things as well) but no one can really say because we don’t get much of it do know that he at least cared about her I feel like people want mal to be this perfect person (which Is ironic because most people think he’s too perfect but I don’t) but he is not the author made him really realistic he has his own wants and selfish desires just like everyone else on the planet but for some reason when it comes to him almost everyone hates him for it and I think that is wrong he loves Alina more than anything and people villainies him for it
People also complain that Alina couldn’t leave her past behind but what if that’s the person she truly is throughout all the books to me it never even seemed like Alina enjoyed being Grisha all she ever talked about was being normal having all this power never was something she wanted I think Alina just wanted a simple happy life not everyone wants to be queen and rule over a whole bunch of people she never talked about having big dreams and ambitions like if that was part of her character from the beginning then I could understand why people are upset by it because she basically threw it all away but that never seemed like something she wanted all these things were just thrown at her with no warning I think people are having a hard time excepting as that some people just want to be like everyone else without the responsibility of a whole kingdom
Alina seems to only be the sun summoner because she thought that was her duty and she had to fulfill it but she never really wanted it and now that she is regular she is at peace with no more unwanted responsibility she free to be whoever
And how the author put it :
They have an ordinary life filled with ordinary things if love could ever be called that
The friends
I’m so happy that they all are still friends and seems like they will still see each other from time to time
Sadly they didn’t say much about my beloved twins tolya and Tamar but I’m sure there doing just fine
So that’s a wrap folks I really enjoyed my time in this world even though from the beginning I wasn’t thinking much about it I don’t even truly know why I started it in the first place but I’m happy I did
Three five stars for all the books ⭐️<
(Still not watching the show though)