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A review by imme_van_gorp
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
3.0
This was probably my least favourite book in the series because of how slow and uneventful the plot was. However, the one thing I really liked were the found-family vibes that got developed here. Each and every single one of Alina’s ragtag group of allies managed to charm me somehow and I really liked whenever we got to see them interact.
Surprisingly, David actually turned out to be one of my favourites; he was so damn awkward and nerdy, but I found him absolutely hilarious and super adorable.
Harshaw and his cat were crazy, but in a very fun and loveable way.
Zoya was so proud and vain and surly, but I somehow couldn’t help but love her.
Genya really betrayed my trust in the first book, but I’ve somehow managed to forgive her.
Misha and Adrik were the absolute cutest, plain and simple.
Tolya and Tamar were the fiercest, most loyal bad-asses, and I would trust them with my life.
Nikolai, well… him and his genius, innovative brain were just lovely from start to finish, weren’t they? My heart was completely stuck in my throat when a certain something happened to him, and I was on the edge of my seat waiting for it to be be fixed.
Mal actually grew on me as well; I’ve always understood why he didn’t feel at home in the palace, and why he wanted his own purpose, but I really disliked how he took that out on Alina. He stopped doing that now, and he actually bore his duty bravely, loyally, selflessly and fiercely. I reluctantly grew to admire him.
If I’m being honest, my irritation veered more towards Alina now. I actually thought she was unnecessarily cruel to him sometimes, and I disliked how power-hungry she was all the time. I feel like she lost shreds of her humanity, and lost most of her personality with that as well.
WARNING: There will be SPOILERS below!
Last but not least, I hated the ending. So much. There’s nothing worse to me than reading a whole series where we follow along with a heroine discovering her power, learning to control it, findings ways to become stronger, only for it to be completely stripped away in the end. It’s depressing and makes the whole story feel quite unnecessary or even useless. I honestly felt indignant on Alina’s behalf. Why did she have to end up becoming weak and insignificant to finally get her “happy ending”??
That said, the ending was not just annoying, it was also painfully stupid. The Darkling seriously just died because he randomly get stabbed!? It was that easy?? Why couldn’t someone have done that ages ago!? And Mal just randomly coming back to life felt cheap too. Like there was never any sacrifice and it could have all been fixed so easily from the beginning. I didn’t appreciate any of it.
Surprisingly, David actually turned out to be one of my favourites; he was so damn awkward and nerdy, but I found him absolutely hilarious and super adorable.
Harshaw and his cat were crazy, but in a very fun and loveable way.
Zoya was so proud and vain and surly, but I somehow couldn’t help but love her.
Genya really betrayed my trust in the first book, but I’ve somehow managed to forgive her.
Misha and Adrik were the absolute cutest, plain and simple.
Tolya and Tamar were the fiercest, most loyal bad-asses, and I would trust them with my life.
Nikolai, well… him and his genius, innovative brain were just lovely from start to finish, weren’t they? My heart was completely stuck in my throat when a certain something happened to him, and I was on the edge of my seat waiting for it to be be fixed.
Mal actually grew on me as well; I’ve always understood why he didn’t feel at home in the palace, and why he wanted his own purpose, but I really disliked how he took that out on Alina. He stopped doing that now, and he actually bore his duty bravely, loyally, selflessly and fiercely. I reluctantly grew to admire him.
If I’m being honest, my irritation veered more towards Alina now. I actually thought she was unnecessarily cruel to him sometimes, and I disliked how power-hungry she was all the time. I feel like she lost shreds of her humanity, and lost most of her personality with that as well.
WARNING: There will be SPOILERS below!
Last but not least, I hated the ending. So much. There’s nothing worse to me than reading a whole series where we follow along with a heroine discovering her power, learning to control it, findings ways to become stronger, only for it to be completely stripped away in the end. It’s depressing and makes the whole story feel quite unnecessary or even useless. I honestly felt indignant on Alina’s behalf. Why did she have to end up becoming weak and insignificant to finally get her “happy ending”??
That said, the ending was not just annoying, it was also painfully stupid. The Darkling seriously just died because he randomly get stabbed!? It was that easy?? Why couldn’t someone have done that ages ago!? And Mal just randomly coming back to life felt cheap too. Like there was never any sacrifice and it could have all been fixed so easily from the beginning. I didn’t appreciate any of it.