A review by redsrecs
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

๐Ÿ—ก๏ธ๐Ÿ—ก๏ธ๐Ÿ—ก๏ธ๐Ÿ—ก๏ธ.5 daggers for Ruin & Rising by Leigh Bardugo

โ€œ๐˜•๐˜ข ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ป๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข'๐˜บ๐˜ข.๏ฟฝ ๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ. ๏ฟฝ๐˜Œ'๐˜บ๐˜ข ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ป๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต๏ฟฝ. ๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ.โ€

๐‘น๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’ƒ๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’Œ๐’…๐’๐’˜๐’:
Plot: 4.5
Pacing: 4.67
Writing: 5
Language: 5
Characters: 5
World building: 4
Romance: 4

Ugh I have so many feelings about this book and especially the ending.

It starts off a bit slow, but the Grisha find their way to allies and endure battles to save Alina and Ravka.

The hunt for the firebird is a bit slow, but by itโ€™s end the entire series seems to come to a head and Mal and Alina get their heads out of their asses and make peace with each other and themselves.

We get some epic worldbuilding, backstories that are plot twists, just general plot twists that will blow your mind and even some romance.

People die, things change, everyone grieves, life goes on.

The ending of this book will surely be in the top 5 of endings that just stay with me forever ๐Ÿ˜ญ

I donโ€™t feel like I can say more about this book without spoiling it but as with the previous books it gave that really intense YA vibes that was common for the time the series was written and which I personally love (think The Hunger Games and Divergent)

If you love the series thus far I really think youโ€™re gonna love this book ๐Ÿซถ๐Ÿป