Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

 Ravka's fate rests in the Sun Summoner's hands. She has to destroy the Fold and defeat the Darkling before it' too late. To do that, Alina will need to find Morozova's third amplifier. The firebird is the only thing that stands between her and saving Ravka.

That's it. That's all that happened in this four hundred-page book. Ruin and Rising was so much longer than it had to be. For the majority of this book, the main cast of characters hiding in the mountains. The epilogue was also incredibly boring. I ended up skipping it altogether. It was a struggle to get through this book. I wanted to put it down, but I kept hoping it would get better. So far, this is my least favorite Leigh Bardugo book.

The ending of this book was unsatisfying and pretty cliché. It was also pretty predictable. I'm not a huge fan of happy endings and this is why. Everything seemed to end too perfectly for Mal and Alina.

I hate Mal. I wish he died. It would have made for a much better story. He and Alina had such a terrible romance.

Alina was pretty stupid. She made such terrible choices. She's arguably the dullest character in this book. There wasn't much character development in Ruin and Rising.

I think the only interesting character in this book was Nikoli. I can see why everybody loves him so much. He is snarky and funny.

Page count: 422 pages

Published: June 17, 2014

Genre: fantasy

Series: Grishaverse book 3

My rating: 3 stars

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Also by Leigh Bardugo:

• Wonder Woman: Warbringer
• Shadow and Bone
• Seige and Storm