Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

I had hoped, after the let down I felt with the second book, I would get a fair amount of enjoyment reading this book. I had hoped I wouldn’t feel the bitter sting of disappointment once I had finished this book. I had hoped Bardugo would find an exciting, unpredictable way to tie up the trilogy. I was too hopeful when picking up this book.

Much of the enjoyment I got from this book was from the colorful cast of supporting characters. I was glad to see the return of Genya. She was a character I enjoyed in the first book and I was glad to see her back. Though she had been changed and mutilated, I was glad to see the core of her character had remained the same. It was fun to see her relationship with David blossom. David was still the same nerdy character through all the books, but I appreciated the consistency. Harshaw, a new introduction to the story, was amusing. I could relate to the fire wielding Grisha because of his cat and his knack for setting things on fire. Zoya always made me laugh with her quick, barbed wit. The budding relationship between Tamar and Nadia was a nice breath of fresh air among the heavy atmosphere of the book. When Nikolai swept in with his grand entrance, I was ecstatic. He was one of the only reasons I found the second book bearable enough to finish it.

My disdain of some of the main characters remained throughout the book. I found Alina tolerable in this book, but there were still many times where I wanted to yell in frustration because of her decisions. Her character was significantly different in this book compared to the other books, but I still didn’t relate to her. I find it hard to believe a gullible character suddenly becomes a scheming politician within the span of only a couple months. Mal was just as hopeless in the second book as he was in the third. His character only served to annoy me during parts of the book. The only character I enjoyed from the main cast during the entire series was the Darkling. I loved the complexity of his character. His twisted nature made him interesting. Even in his moments of vulnerability, we did not know if it was part of his game or true emotion he had let slip. We do not know if the parts of him that we saw that looked human were actually there or a deception he played on Alina.

I really do not enjoy when I can predict huge plot points in a book, which is precisely what happened in Ruin and Rising. The Apparat trying to keep control of Alina was predictable. The blatant foreshadowing of the Apparat's character was apparent almost from the moment he was introduced. Nikolai's return, even though I was happy about it, was easy to spot. The Darkling showing up to throw a wrench in everything was far from a surprise. Sergei’s betrayal was predictable and boring. A similar enough situation had just happened in the previous book. Mal's connection with everything was a nice touch, but not shocking. The ending was lackluster and chalk full of stereotypical scenarios. While there were a couple small surprises, like Nikolai's transformation at the hands of the Darkling, overall I was unenthused.

I'm sure there are people out there who appreciated this series; I, however, am not among them. I appreciated the world Leigh Bardugo built, the Grisha and their Small Science were fun to read about. Unfortunately my dislike of Alina, Mal, and the predictability of the plot made it hard for me to truly enjoy the series.