Title: Ruin and Rising (Shadow and Bone #3)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Henry Holt 2014
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: 465
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges:
Soldier. Summoner. Saint. The nation’s fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.
The Darkling rules from his shadow throne while a weakened Alina Starkov recovers from their battle under the dubious protection of the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Now her hopes lie with the magic of a long-vanished ancient creature and the chance that an outlaw prince still survives.
As her allies and enemies race toward war, only Alina stands between her country and a rising tide of darkness that could destroy the world. To win this fight, she must seize a legend’s power—but claiming the firebird may be her ruin.
The trilogy has been finished! I would not say that this series has been my favorite YA fantasy series, but I do think that it redeemed itself with the last book. Ultimately, I really did end up liking the storyline and I’m still very much in love with the magic system. I’m still annoyed by Alina and Mal’s relationship and don’t feel like Mal quite earned his place by her side. I was satisfied with the ending between Alina and the Darlking, but wish we could have seen his vulnerable side a little more and a little earlier in the books. (Seems like he ended up being a bit of unused character in the second and third books.) I’m okay with the entire resolution to the series. I’m more excited to read the companion duology and watch the television show.
Shadow and Bone
#3 Ruin and Rising
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