Review: Ruin and Rising - Leigh Bardugo

This is the third and final book of the Grisha trilogy. It is hard to say too much about the book without spoilers, as it is the final book of a series, but I’ll give it a go!

We follow Alina’s point of view, and as a result I feel like most of the characters aren’t really that fleshed out. We get to know Alina’s thoughts and cares, but we only see the other characters through her eyes. I almost always feel slightly disappointed by this, when a book is told in first person perspective, but I don’t see how it can be done better without changing the perspective. Which I personally wouldn’t mind. 

There is practically no world-building in this book, which is really as it should be, as the world ought to be set up by the third book. As for the magic system I did have some trouble with it. It seemed awfully convenient and not very logical the way the magic would work and react to certain events. So I struggled a bit with that, especially the thing at the end where the magic shifts. That just seemed contrived to me. 

As for the plot of this book it was as winding and unpredictable as the rest. Just when Alina had made a plan and they were about to set out, something happened and the plan changed yet again. This meant that you could never predict what was going to happen, and while that is a good thing, the speed at which most things happened could leave you a little breathless almost. 

As I started reading this book I heard a few people that were having trouble with the ending. When I got there, I could understand why. First of all the magic bit, but then also who survives and how they survive the final battle. SPOILER: I am a sucker for a happy ending, but after setting the plot up like that, it just seems too easy!

I gave this 3,5 stars out of 5 on Goodreads.

As a series I ended up quite liking it even though it had kind of a rocky start for me. I definitely think the first book was the weakest, but the series gets stronger as it goes. Each book had some issues for me, so I wasn’t completely awed by the series, but I thought it was a good read. 

Reviews of the other books of the series here: 




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