Review: Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
✨𝑹𝒖𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒚 𝑳𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝑩𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒖𝒈𝒐✨
Summary
The capital has fallen.
The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.
Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.
Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.
Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.
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Some spoilers ahead
⭐️⭐️💫/5
The ending of a trilogy is either the best or the worst in my opinion and here I sit in the latter category. Would have been 3 maybe 3.5 if the first 200 some odd pages did not bore me to tears to a point I almost put it down never to pick it up again. I really quite struggled to get through R&R it was pretty disappointing unfortunately.
I wanted to love this I really did but for me it was a big ol mehh.
What I Liked:
Crazy twist with Nikolai's transformation
Downfall of the fold
Power struggle and loss
MAL TWIST!?! Like what did NOT see that coming
What I Did Not Like:
Return of Apparat
Too much time in undergrounds and mountain
Apparat's treatment of Alina
#IAmBecometheBlade
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