A review by effy
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

3.5

Whilst I still don't really like 
  Mal and Alina as endgame (I would have loved Nikolai and Alina as the eventual pairing),
the ending of this series did not bother me, I think maybe because it felt as though they had earned their peace. In a lot of ways, it was quite bittersweet because
Alina had loved being Grisha but the epilogue did paint a beautiful picture of life where their friends still visited.


I am frustrated that this book featured
the resurrection trope - even if the reasoning seemed pretty solid - and the fact that the price of war wasn't very severe
felt like a missed opportunity but I guess overall this series has not shied away from character death so minimal deaths in the final battle was okay, I guess.

My review seemed to have mostly been griping but those were my only real issues with a book that was actually a pretty compulsive listen and kept me guessing for most of the story.

I also loved how much Nikolai and Genya we got!  

Favourite quote:

I am not ruined, I am ruination.
 
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