BOOK REVIEW: Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

5/5⭐

I can't believe I'm done with the Grishaverse trilogy. What an adventure it's been. The final installment was DEFINITELY my favourite of them all. This book saved the trilogy for me and I even feel a little lost and sad now after finishing it - I haven't been able to pick up anything new since I finished this for a buddy read.

"The stars looked as if they were close together, when really they were millions of miles apart. In the end, maybe love just meant longing for something impossibly bright and forever out of reach."

It follows Alina as she prepares to take on The Darkling for the final time, but she cannot do it alone. She needs an army to help her and she needs to find the Firebird to help her defeat the darkness and save Ravka, but she needs to be careful who she trusts.

I could never stand Mal in the previous books, especially in Siege and Storm, but while reading this it completely changed my opinion of him - he would do anything for Alina and be anything she needed him to be, even if he knew they might not end up together.

Seeing Alina develop throughout the trilogy also made me appreciate her character more. She went from being a normal girl, an orphan, who works as a mapmaker - to discovering that she is the Sun Summoner who Ravka has been waiting for and she deals with struggles against her own greed for power, her similarities to The Darkling and her fears of becoming like him, while at the same time she feels this magnetic pull towards him.

The characters who end up joining Alina in her preparations to face The Darkling all crept into my heart. They were all so loyal and faithful to her.

Nikolai is definitely my favourite character out of this series - I love his sayings and strong personality. He goes through so much, but always comes out stronger and keeps his positive and humorous attitude and he truly cares for Ravka. The first time he appears in this book had me giggling. He honestly has the most witty sayings and personality.

I loved how everything from the three books just came together in this final installment. One scene I am particularly happy about, is that the King finally got what he deserved and had to face the consequences of his actions. This scene showed Nikolai's strong leadership qualities and made me love him even more.

I loved that we finally got the romance we deserved in this book as well. I have been waiting for this way too long. 😂😂😂

This book was action packed from start to finish and I loved every bit of it. There were quite a few twists and turns which had me on the edge of my seat. I just don't know how I feel about the ending - it was different than I had hoped or expected, in more ways than one. I would have wanted things to end differently, but at the same time I feel the ending is what was best for all the characters in a way and it gives the readers closure regarding the characters - even though it is sad that we lost a few of them along the way.