Review: Ruin and Rising - Leigh Bardugo

The Darkling pressed a kiss to the top of my hair. "I will strip away all that you know, all that you love, until you have no other shelter but me."

For Alina, time is running out. To destroy the Darkling, she must find the elusive firebird, and she must find it soon.

The Darkling's power is growing. And so is his connection to Alina. Can Alina escape the hold he has over her? Does she want to?

Mal is the one person Alina can rely on. But could giving in to the bond between them be the most dangerous decision of all?

The Grisha Trilogy:
The Witch of Duva (Short Story) (Can be read online on the Tor website here)
Shadow and Bone (Originally published in the UK as The Gathering Dark but now re-released as Shadow and Bone as per the US)
The Tailor (Short Story) (Can be read online on Leigh Bardugo's Facebook page here)
Siege and Storm
The Too-Clever Fox (Short Story) (Can be read online on the Tor website here)
Little Knife (Short Story) (Can be read online on the Tor website here)
Ruin and Rising
The Language of Thorns (anthology of fairytales set in the Grishaverse)

Six of Crows Duology:
(spin off series set in the same world but featuring different characters)
Six of Crows
Six of Crows Collector's Edition
Crooked Kingdom
Crooked Kingdom Collector's Edition

Visit Leigh Bardugo's website for more information

Review:
I completely fell in love with this series from the moment I picked up the first book two years ago and I've been captivated ever since so I was both excited and nervous about reading the final book Ruin and Rising. I was so invested in the lives of these characters but I had a very definite opinion about how I wanted things to turn out and who I wanted Alina to end up with. It's really, really hard to review the final book in a trilogy without giving spoilers though. There are so many things that I want to talk about but I can't because I want everyone to have the chance to going into this story blind, I want you to be able to discover the plot twists on your own and I don't want to ruin the surprises that Leigh Bardugo has in store for you.

Therefore I'm going to keep this review deliberately short and vague and instead focus on how reading this book made me feel. I think I must have gone through every single emotion possible at one point or another but one thing I couldn't do was put the book down. This is definitely a story you need to clear your diary for because once you start you'll be completely hooked. I laughed, I cried, I was shocked, horrified and outraged one moment only to find myself grinning and cheering the next. There were moments that broke my heart and others that made me sigh happily. I'm not going to say it was all a bed of roses, there were moments when I was unsure about where the author was taking us and when I was almost too scared to look at what was happening on the page but even though she took me places where I didn't want to go Leigh Bardugo ultimately left me feeling satisfied and with a huge grin on my face.

I know that not everyone will be happy with the way this series ends, the trouble with having more than one love interest (although to me there was really only ever one contender!) is that not everyone will be happy with the way things turn out. However, I personally thought the ending was perfect, it was everything I'd hoped for and more. The whole Grisha trilogy has a special place in my heart, I'm sad it's over and would love to revisit these characters in the future but I'm also excited that the author is planning further books set in the same world but introducing new characters for us to fall in love with. I was at an event with the author a couple of days ago and she read an unedited passage from the first spin off book, The Dregs, and trust me it was amazing. I have a feeling I'm going to love the new characters even more than I loved these ones and I've already pre-ordered my copy! If you're a fantasy fan then I really don't think you can go wrong with these books.

Source: Purchased

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