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A review by eviesellers
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
3.0
something about this series was very surface level; i was never able to get as into most of the characters' stories and plots as i felt like i was supposed to. there was also so much worldbuilding to the point where things felt repetitive. there are only so many vaguely russian sounding fantasy words you can throw in a series before they all start sounding the same.
the love interests in this series were also somewhat strange. the darkling went nowhere; they had a thing in the first book that had an on and off feeling for the other two books, but eventually went nowhere as he kept revealing himself to just be a sociopathic freak at every turn. nikolai was my absolute favorite of the love interests. i loved the banter and his shared goals and understanding with alina as to the future they wanted for the kingdom. he was the most interesting of the 3 main love interests and the most interesting as a standalone character before he got turned into some kind of freaky ass dark magic pterodactyl by the darkling and then turned human again for the last like 50 pages. mal was boring at best and annoying at worst. i get the childhood friends to lovers thing, but it felt so often that they were incompatible and had outgrown each other. him being the third amplifier was also a strange twist given that he had been in all 3 books thus far and had been around after they found the second amplifier and yet nothing happened.
idk these were kind of mediocre overall and i might go back and change my other reviews to 3 stars
the love interests in this series were also somewhat strange. the darkling went nowhere; they had a thing in the first book that had an on and off feeling for the other two books, but eventually went nowhere as he kept revealing himself to just be a sociopathic freak at every turn. nikolai was my absolute favorite of the love interests. i loved the banter and his shared goals and understanding with alina as to the future they wanted for the kingdom. he was the most interesting of the 3 main love interests and the most interesting as a standalone character before he got turned into some kind of freaky ass dark magic pterodactyl by the darkling and then turned human again for the last like 50 pages. mal was boring at best and annoying at worst. i get the childhood friends to lovers thing, but it felt so often that they were incompatible and had outgrown each other. him being the third amplifier was also a strange twist given that he had been in all 3 books thus far and had been around after they found the second amplifier and yet nothing happened.
idk these were kind of mediocre overall and i might go back and change my other reviews to 3 stars