Title: Ruin and Rising (The Grisha #3)
Author: Leigh BardugoPublished: 17 June 2014 by Henry Holt & Co.
Source: Book Depository
Reviewed: Sapphired Dragon
Rating: *****
My Review:
What an awesome conclusion to a series! I loved this book and was glued to the pages from beginning to end.
It had been about 6 months and a load of books since I had read book 2, Siege and Storm so I was worried I may not remember nenough to be able to enjoy it properly but I needn't have worried. Right from page 1, I was back in the story and invested in the characters and hanging on every word right through to the satisfying conclusion.
Ms Bardugo is a master story teller. This tale has everything you need for a complete story. Characters you can become invested in, a interesting and different story line with enough surprises along the way that the ending is not necessarily be seen until the author wants you to see it. Lastly the conclusion itself makes reading the entire three books well worth the effort.
I loved the main character Alina. I loved how strong she was and how we got to see her struggle with trying to work out the right path to take. We got to see her strengths as well as her weakness as Ms Bardugo did not give a clear straight path nor easily definable right and wrong choices so we got to see how Alina coped with the both making her decisions and then dealing with the consequences.
I also loved her relationships with the other characters, with The Darkling, with Nicolai and with Mal. Again, I loved that there were never clear choices and she had to deal with her hearty fighting her head fighting her soul whilst also wrestling how these decisions might also affect the rest of her world.
Over all, this is one of the best conclusions to a series I have read in a long time and whilst I am sad to be leaving these characters behind, I also leave satisfied with a conclusion that left these characters where they were meant to be.I give this novel 5 stars.
Sapphired Dragon xx
About The Book:
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.
