Ruin and Rising

I went into Ruin and Rising genuinely worried about whether or not I would enjoy it, as Siege and Storm was a lackluster sequel that didn't have much to add to the series, so in my mind, it was up in the air whether this was going to end up being worth my time, or a massive dissapointment that I'd walk away sour from. I'm thankful to say that this book was very good, allaying my worries in the first few chapters.

The book starts soon after the ending of the previous one, with Alina having lost her powers after the confrontation with the Darkling, hiding in the caves the Apparat called the White Chapel. She's beginning to feel isolated from the people around her, as the Apparat is controlling her every move.
She's wrestling with feelings of inadequacy after her failures leading the second army, and fears that maybe she'll fail Ravka in the long term. This, coupled with the continued weird feelings she has for the men in her life plague her, and she falls into a depressed state.

Very quickly, she gets broken free of the Apparat's Clutches, and regains her powers, and then proceeds to put together a small strike force to hunt for the third of Morozova's amplifiers, all the while contending with her feelings for Mal, Nikolai, and for some reason, still the Darkling.

This all happens within 3 chapters, and sets the pace for the entire book. Whereas the previous book was content to wallow in the act of doing sweet fuck all, this book doesn't slow down for a second, and I fucking love that about it. It is breakneck to put it lightly. This is probably going to be something that turns people off of the book, as I know there's a large portion of readers who only really connect with books whose plots have room to breathe, though personally I'm flexible with the pace of the books I read.

The characters have a much stronger showing in this book. For the most part, the constant stroppiness has fucked off, and we actually get characters whose reactions to situations makes sense, which is a welcome change from the last book. Communication issues aren't really a thing here anymore, instead characters get their shit together and hash problems out, then solve them. This is likely due to the fact that Bardugo realized that she only had so much space in this book, and a lot of ground to cover, but regardless, I was so glad to see this change.

Nikolai is a character that I specifically want to mention, as he was stellar in this book. He was alright in S&S, but he really gets the chance to come into his own here, with my favourite scene in the trilogy belonging to him, where he dresses down his father. Every scene he was in, he stole, and I love him for that.

I was much more sold on the romance aspect of the book, as Leigh gives it room to breathe and develop more naturally than in the prior books, where it was a spur of the moment thing, a symptom of the character's impulsivity, whereas in this book, it's well reasoned and explained why the character's that end up together do.

However, there is one exception to this, and funny enough, this is my only major gripe with the book. For the entirety of the last book, and for most of this one, Alina keeps positing the idea that the Darkling can be saved. Real “I can fix him” energy. And it's fucking annoying. This man has been evil incarnate for the majority of the series, having almost no redeeming moments after the mask off moment in book 1, and I'm meant to believe he's worth saving?

This is just the continuation of the shitey love quadrangle from the last book, but even more insane considering the fact that he maimed one of Alina's best friends, scarring her for life, and taking one of her eyes. Anyone who can still consider this man salvageable has been hitting the hooch a bit too hard, because fucking hell. This is, in my opinion, an example of themes taking precedent over the story presented by the text. Alina's love for the Darkling is a representation for her desire for power, and the intoxication that she's felt since becoming the Sun Summoner. But it just doesn't line up with what we've been shown. I understand that she's a victim of abuse by his hand, but it's just really difficult to believe that after everything he's done, she can see past those things, and even consider any form of romance.

If it was just a thing of her contemplating whether or not he deserved to die, that would be different, but she explicitly thinks about the prospect of returning to him at one point, as if it's a fucking question. All that being said, it didn't take away from the book enough for me to dislike it, it just took away from it whenever the idea was being thrown around.

Something that demands praise however, is the plot twists. So far, this series has had almost nothing in the way of good twists, but goddamn did this one pull a good one out it's arse for the last installment. IYKYK, but I was positively floored by it. Couldn't have asked for a more well thought out twist.

I was very happy with how the book ended, and though I predicted certain elements, I didn't expect others. Overall, I found it to be a fairly peaceful ending, which I found really resonant with the overall themes of the story.

All in all, I think you should read this series, and I for one, will be continuing on to Six of Crows very soon, and likely straight into King of Scars afterwards. I had a fantastic time with this book, 4/5 stars.