Ruin and Rising

Ruin and Rising, the final installment in Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha trilogy, brings Alina Starkov’s journey to a close with stronger pacing, deeper character involvement, and an ending that leans more bittersweet than triumphant. After the slower middle book, this finale feels like a return to form, moving the story forward with more purpose and emotional weight.

The novel follows Alina as she emerges from hiding to continue the search for the final amplifier and prepare for a last confrontation with the Darkling. Along the way, alliances are tested, truths are revealed, and the stakes feel more immediate than ever. Unlike Siege and Storm, this book maintains a steadier pace, making it easier to stay engaged from beginning to end.

One of show more the biggest improvements is in the characters. They feel more present and impactful, each contributing meaningfully to the story and to Alina’s growth. The relationships, tensions, and shifting loyalties come across more naturally, helping ground the larger fantasy elements in something more personal and believable.

The ending, however, may be divisive. While it does a solid job of tying the story together and doesn’t feel like a betrayal of the characters, it may not meet every reader’s expectations. Alina’s final choice—particularly in regard to her power—can feel frustrating, as it seems to halt or even undo some of her growth. The idea that power itself is inherently negative comes through strongly, and not everyone will find that resolution satisfying.

That said, the conclusion carries a quiet emotional weight. It’s not a grand, victorious ending, but rather a reflective and bittersweet one—focused on what is lost, what is kept, and what it means to move forward. This tone gives the story a sense of realism, even within its fantastical setting, and allows readers to feel the cost of everything that came before.

Overall, Ruin and Rising is a strong and emotionally resonant conclusion to the trilogy. While not perfect, it delivers a meaningful ending that stays true to the story’s themes, even if it takes a less expected path to get there. show less

Ruin and Rising is the third book in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha trilogy. I admit I rolled my eyes when in the first couple chapters we get another retread of Alina being weak and sick from not using her powers. Thankfully the story moves on quickly as our characters rush to save Ravka from darkness.

It's been great to watch Bardugo grow as a writer over the series and I enjoyed this final installment. The pacing issues are mostly gone and I found myself loving the side characters almost more than the main ones. The band of misfit friends Alina ends up with are a lot of fun. I'd love to read a short story just about them and their antics, especially Zoya, Genya, David and Harshaw. I also liked that we get the backstory for the Darkling and show more Morozova's experiment. Nikolai goes through quite an ordeal. It will be interesting to see how much it's changed him, and how he deals it with it all, in his upcoming series. Alina and Mal continue to be annoying, though Mal is at his most likable in this book.

I was completely surprised with that plot twist! I was not expecting Mal to be the third amplifier. There were hints along the way and it explains a lot, I really don't know why I didn't see that coming. Well played Ms. Bardugo.

The explanation we're given of Grisha magic, the Small Science, is pretty darn cool. They are manipulating matter at it's base level - atoms! For any Grisha that choose to truly master their craft, the sky's the limits on how powerful they could be and what they could accomplish. This leaves the author a lot of room to work with in the future should she choose to.

It's funny how controversial this ending was to fans. Obviously I'm in the "I enjoyed it" camp. I think I would have preferred if Mal had stayed dead. Alina making an even bigger sacrifice, both of her power and of the person she loves most, would've had more impact. That said, I did like the epilogue. It was very sweet and a nice happily ever after for them both. show less

A powerful, satisfying end to the trilogy. Alina has some difficult choices to make in this installment, and I loved watching her journey. Mal really comes into his own in this one as a leader and a warrior. I loved that the Grisha follow him and trust him, even though he’s otkazat’sya. I have read far too many fantasy books in which nonmagic characters drop out of the story because they aren’t important, or they get marginalized by the author to make room for magic characters, and I love love LOVE that Bardugo doesn’t fall into this easy trap. Mal is still very much an important character; he’s spent much of the trilogy fighting for every last scrap of respect from a more powerful magic elite, and it’s incredibly satisfying show more to see that pay off here. (Mal also has to be one of the nicest fictional characters ever—he’s got an unusual mix of strength and humility, and I love him to pieces. I don’t think I’ve cared so much about a love interest since Gilbert Blythe.) I was surprised by some of the story’s twists and turns, and I was on the edge of my seat for most of this book. I couldn’t predict where it was going; I didn’t know what would happen until it did. Parts of this story are very sad, and I love the bittersweet tone. And the ending is absolutely perfect. show less

❝“Na razrusha’ya. E’ya razrushost.” I am not ruined. I am ruination.❞

I could sum up my actual emotions like this: 😭💓😭💓😭💓😭.
I came to love this series even if everybody knows I never end up liking too-hyped books (well, the Illuminae Files and the Harry Potter series are the other exceptions lol), so I already feel a little bit nostalgic at the moment. To be honest, I've started to feel like it while I was reading the ending, just sayin' 😂

Anyway, I'd like to say that I sorta liked the ending because I think that's... Just right? But at the same time I feel like it's wrong too, because this isn't how I've wanted imagined it while reading the whole trilogy.
Let's consider that last year I've accidentally show more read a ranting status update about Mal, like he betrayed somebody or something like that, so I've spent the whole time dreading the moment he could have gone bad lol and what's the result? I feel incomplete now that I know he didn't 😂
But what's messing the most with my heart is my poor baby. I feel like Nikolai deserved a lot more and I honestly hoped and shipped him hard with Alina... I even shipped him with Baghra because I loved all the teasing 😂😂😂🖤 it just breaks my heart because he deserves so much love omg JUST COME HERE AND TAKE ME AT THE GRAND PALACE, I CAN MAKE YOU HAPPY!
Last but not least, the Darkling. In this very moment I honestly feel like a rock fell right on my chest. Partially quoting Alina, I feel like there's a shadow next to my heart when I think about him. I don't know, I've always felt something like a mix between pity, empathy and sympathy. I couldn't hate him even if I'd want to force myself to do it. Honestly? I would have hugged him tight 😢 I guess it's the charm of the bad boy a kind of Florence Nightingale effect that hit me hard with Lord Voldemort, too. The feeling is just the same (even stronger at the moment), I just start to think about how they could have felt during their whole lives and.. Duh, I don't know. I'm feeling too emo right now 😂

The morale is: I'm so happy because it ended but at the same time I'm so sad for the same reason.
Dear Leigh, give me a new series about Nikolai because my whole body needs it (and my mental health too), thank you ❤️ show less

Note: Spoilers for the previous two books in this trilogy

Background:

This is the third book in a young adult fantasy series that takes place in a world that includes a subset of people called Grisha, who are born with rare abilities to manipulate matter at its most fundamental levels. Etherealki can summon elements of nature to raise winds or create tides or fires. Corporalki can stop hearts, heal the wounded, or change a person’s appearance. Materialki are fabricators who work with textiles, chemicals, or metals.

In the first book, Shadow and Bone, we meet our two main protagonists, Alina and Mal, who grew up as orphans in the same house. When they are older and serving in the army together, Alina inadvertently discovers she has show more Grisha powers as a summoner, but unlike other summoners, she, uniquely, can call up sunlight. In this she is the counterpart of the de facto ruler of the nation of Ravka, the Darkling, who can summon darkness.

The Darkling hears of Alina and wants to use her powers to enhance his own. This can be accomplished by attaching “amplifiers” to Alina - the bones of mythical creatures that can increase a Grisha’s power by coming into contact with the Grisha. In the first book, the antlers of a storied stag are found and the Darkling has them placed - permanently - it seems - around Alina’s neck. Mal, renowned as a tracker, helped to find the stag (without knowing it was meant for Alina). He is pressed into service to help the Darkling find a second amplifier, the scales of a mythical dragon known as the Sea Whip. Legend holds that with three amplifiers, the power of the Darkling and Alina will be total and invincible.

In the second book, Siege and Storm, Mal helps find the Sea Whip, and Alina acquires the second amplifier. Now she seeks the third with the help of Nicolai, the charming and generous Prince of Ravka. But Alina is held captive “for her own safety” this time by the Apparat, the head priest, in an underground cathedral. The Apparat also wants to use Alina, to build his own religion based on belief in her powers.

Review of Ruin and Rising:

This final book, Ruin and Rising, begins two months after Alina’s battle with the Darkling. She is kept under strict control and observation by the Apparat. She needs to regain her strength by making contact with the light, but there is none to be had underground. If she could recover, she could escape and go after the third amplifier, for which she experiences a ravenous hunger. The Darkling understands her greed for power as well as the loneliness she feels by her difference, and stokes these feelings in her through the strange bond they share. The desires compete within her: the greed and ruthlessness of the “new” Alina, and the dreams of the “old” Alina - just a girl who wants to be loved by a boy. But those dreams no longer applied to a Sun Summoner, nor to a Saint.

Alina finally manages to get out from under the thumb of the Apparat, with a great deal of help from her friends, and she, Mal, and her group of Grisha go off in search of the firebird. But when they find it, they learn an astounding truth about the third amplifier, and must face some hard decisions to confront the Darkling.

Discussion: Alina was never the most likable of the protagonists, but she is the hub around which all the others revolve, and their reactions to her drive the story forward. Mal is heroic and self-sacrificing, and Nikolai - solid and brave, is a true king no matter what his form. The Grisha are so different from one another, but each endearing in unique ways. This is especially true with Genya, once heartbreakingly beautiful outside, but always heartbreakingly beautiful within.

There are some wonderful turns of phrase in these books. I loved how Alina described one of the Grisha in her group:

“Stigg was short and stocky with nearly white blond hair. He had the solid, stuffy appearance of a prayer candle.”

And there was this fear she expressed as her group traveled through the underground tunnels to escape:

“If the earth came down [in the tunnel] . . . we would be crushed and no one would ever know, wildflowers pressed between the pages of a book and forgotten.”

The author also cleverly employs non-specific nouns and a symmetrical story structure to convey so much meaning at the beginning and end of her saga.

Evaluation: This series has memorable characters, who grow in complexity and appeal as the series progresses. Bardugo jumps up a level in skill in her next duology, Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, but these books are entertaining and memorable in their own right. show less

“They had an ordinary life, full of ordinary things – if love can ever be called that.”

First things first.. BEWARE OF SPOILERS. There is no way I can review this book without revealing some very important parts of the story. And I definitely am not able to find words to describe my emotions while reading this book. I laughed, I felt desperate, I was proud and ultimately I sobbed – A LOT!!!! Both the happy and sad parts made me cry and cry and there was nothing I could do to stop my tears. The book is amazing, the writing is just brilliant and the characters – well I am very confident that I am not going to forget any of them for a long time to come.

“I wanted to believe anything so that I wouldn’t have to face the future show more alone. The problem with wanting is that it makes us weak.”

Alina is a bundle of contradictions – strong and weak, confident and lost, self sacrificing and selfish, desperate – everything that makes her what she is — a heroine worth remembering. I know I didn’t like Mal until now, but this book definitely helped me understand him better. He finally finds his purpose and his journey through it is full of love, loss and sacrifice. Obviously, the fact that he gave up his life for Alina and Ravka helped in changing my feelings towards him.

“Na razrusha’ya. I am not ruined. E’ya razrushost. I am ruination.”

All of the others who choose to follow and believe in Alina are so wonderfully written that I can’t even pick and choose whom I like better. Brave and faithful Tamar and Tolya, strong willed Genya, brilliant David, annoying Zoya, Nadia, Adrik, Misha, Baghra, Sergei, Stigg, Harshaw – every single one of them is memorable and it is their love and friendship and loyalty that make Alina what she is. Sankta Alina is incomplete without all of them.

“I’m used to being the center of attention wherever I go. I’ve been told I could charm the shoes off a racehorse midstride, and yet you seem impervious.”

Now coming to one of my favorites Nikolai whom I can’t talk about enough. Nikolai is as usual on a charm offensive, whether he is plotting an escape or proposing to the one girl he can’t get. But when he is transformed by the Darkling into a creature of darkness, it was just so heartbreaking. I cried and then I kept hoping that he would find his way back and I was delighted at the end when he became the King. His vulnerability and uncertainty towards the end was so unlike him that for a moment, I wished Alina would remain with him. But wishes don’t always come true. All I can hope for is that in whichever universe this story occurs, he gets to marry for love rather than forging an alliance. And I am absolutely certain the King of Scars will bring prosperity to Ravka.

In this moment, he was just a boy – brilliant, blessed with too much power, burdened by eternity. “Aleksander”, I whispered. A boy’s name, given up. Almost forgotten.

Here comes the DARKLING – I know he is a mass murderer, he tortures and manipulates and tries to break Alina every chance he gets, but his character is so well written in the realm of black and white and grey that I can’t hate him without also loving him. He is full of darkness and greed and destruction but his other side of wanting a better world for Grisha, of wanting to be rid of the loneliness that has plagued him for eternity – this just makes me want him to get a little shot at happiness. May be if he is with Alina, he might become a better person. Maybe Alina would be able to bring out the boy from the creature of darkness. Now more than ever, I wish for a Grishaverse where Alina and Aleksander get their happily ever after.

“You might make me a better man.” “And you might make me a monster.” show less

So many twists and turns here! I loved getting to see Alina grow more and more powerful and learn to deal with the responsibility that comes with that along with the revelations about herself and those around her.

The revelation about Mal was really not that surprising for me. While I didn't think he would turn out to be the third amplifier, I knew something must be up with him being able to track everything so easily. My heart did break a little when I found out because it would mean Alina had to kill him. That being said, him coming back to life was not all that surprising and I'll admit that I am glad that worked out the way it did.

Baghra became one of my favorite side characters after I learned about her links with Morozova and her show more sad past

The ending was spectacularly done. I knocked a star off simply because everything seemed to work out too well for my liking. That being said, I loved that the answer to destroying the Fold and the Darkling and checking the power of the amplifiers was to disperse the power to all those born without Grisha power. show less