Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

97 reviews

oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Unfortunately this one was an underwhelming and disappointing way to round out the Shadow and Bone trilogy. This series really peaked with the second book and I wish that the author would have given the characters a more satisfying story arc throughout.

I really disliked Mal and Alina's love story throughout this last installment. It felt forced - they had absolutely zero chemistry at all and would have been better off staying friends. Alina would have been much better suited to Nikolai in the end and Bardugo's refusal to kill off any of the important characters also frustrated me.

The beginning of this book was so slow and while it picked up as it went along, I found myself hoping for it to just end rather than being excited to reach the climax and the "final battle" as I should have with a series of this nature. 
A 3 star rating feels generous but I don't think it deserves worse - it just wasn't the right finale in my mind for these characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

snowiceblackfruit77's review

dark emotional funny 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

4.75

I loved this book so much

I didn’t like at first that Alina lost her power, but it was necessary.

I love this trilogy and the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

patchedspines's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and War

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Addiction

undecidedpersonality's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Medical content, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

cnannery19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and War

cristina_reading24's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Body horror, Rape, Sexual assault, and Torture

mckiheather's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

bubbly_lara's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-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? No

5.0

I absolutely loved this. All the stars, 10/10, highly recommend this series! I literally did not know what to do with myself for hours after finishing it. We meet Alina

and the group of survivors in the White Cathedral

right where "Siege and Storm" ended. We follow along as they grow together as a group and plan their escape from underground to find Nikolai and his troops in order to face the Darkling and save Ravka. They venture on the journey to find the third amplifier while they learn more about the Darklings past, Ilya Morozova and how it is all interconnected. At the end of the day, they must each choose whether they can live with the price to be paid to end this war.

"What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men."

For a moment there, I thought my little heart could not take how the story was unfolding. In what the Darkling decided on as a punishment for

Nikolai

we see once more how cruel he can truly be. The moments between

Alina and Nikolai in his monster form

made my heart ache for the both of them and the choices they must make. Also, how could I not talk about Alina and Mal.

For a moment there, I thought they would not get to live the life they both want and deserve. What with Mal being the Third Amplifier and both of them knowing he must die in order for Alina to absorb the power within Mal. No words, just heartbreak. I did love the epilogue and how they rebuilt Keramzin to be a better home for others than it was for them. Zoya handing Alina blue Grisha robes with the note "You will always be one of us" makes me tear up even writing this review.

.

Please do yourself a favour and go read this series. It deserves all the hype it's getting. I cannot wait to go dive back into the Grishaverse with "Six of Crows" next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Vomit

what_karla_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death

aidareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, and Grief