🏔 What is it about?
Alina's story picks back up very close to where we left her at the end of the second book. If you haven't read Seige and Storm, Alina heroically attempts to kill herself in hopes she can simultaneously take the Darkling down with her. That didn't work. Instead, it left her horrendously broken, weak and without access to her own power.
In Ruin and Rising, Alina has recovered physically from the battle, but she is still unable to summon. She's not entirely sure why, but she suspects it's because of where her group of survivors are hiding.
The Apparat, who is essentially the head of the Ravkan church, saved Alina by dragging her and the others down into a network of secret passageways that twist and wind beneath the country's empty terrain. Yet, as Alina's strength and mental clarity return, she realizes that this sanctuary beneath the surface bears a closer resemblance to a prison than a refuge. Despite wishing well for Alina's health, the Apparat would prefer to keep Alina in his grasp. Using her and her status to feed his ever-growing sun-saint cult.
With help of Mal, Zoya, Genya, David, the Shu twins and the others Grisha, she is able to escape. Once again using the subterranean tunnel network they came from, the group sets out in what they hope is North. Where there are rumours of Prince Nikolai's survival and mounting resistance.
After days of darkness, the group emerges from the underground in a small church somewhere in Northern Ravka. So far so good. But while they rest and wash up in a nearby river, a group of militia, loyal to the Darkling surround them in what appears to be an inescapable position. Nonetheless, just in time and in classic personal style, Nikolai floats down from one of his sky-ships cracking jokes about his own perfection before saving the Grisha in a battle that sees Alina take her first life.
The Prince journeys the group across the rest of Ravka's Northern permafrost and deep into the snow-capped mountain range of Elbjen. There Alina and the other find refuge in a hollowed-out mountain and are reunited with more of the previous battle's survivors, including the newly abdicated King and Queen, as well as Baghra - the Darkling's mother.
As the Grisha settle in and begin to make plans, Alina sets her own goal of getting past Baghra's unfriendly demeanour in the hopes she may be able to offer more clues as to the third amplifier's location. What Alina learns sets the stage for the rest of the novel.
Of course, peace cannot last. As the group is about to set out on their new plan, chaos, once again, reestablishes its eternal presence in the Grisha's lives. The Darkling finds them. Another brutal massacre takes place on the mountain-top. Alina escapes, but not before the majority of Ravka's refugees are slain and the Prince himself is infected by a dark and rancid spell.
Once again Alina, Mal and the others are alone. They abandon their plans to fly West, instead, with the information Alina received from Baghra, turning their heads South. Turning their heads home. The likely location off Ravka's third and final amplifier and their only hope.
💭 Thoughts
Let's be honest, this book, this whole trilogy, is for teenagers. It's a light adventure to immerse myself in before bed. Yet Ruin & Rising broke the narrative. I couldn't stop reading. The exciting plot-driven narrative is back. It consistently delivers over and over again like a good firework festival. Each story arch established in the previous books is aligned in perfect order. Repeatedly peaking and tying off loose ends while steadily building towards the grand finale.
It's thrilling and entirely unpredictable, yet comfortably satisfying. There are so many twists and turns that make the book impossible to put down. I will say, I think some of Ruin and Rising's miracles go a little too far, bordering on the unbelievable. But this is due more to the lack of explanation behind Grisha magic than the breaking of Bardugo's universal laws. It's reconcilable in the context of the story.
Most importantly though, despite the heavy plot focus, we finally get extensive character development on the majority of key characters and an origin story for the Darkling! Genya's growth is fun to follow. The horrendous ruination of her exterior appearance forces her to look inwards, where she finds not a slave, but a strong woman, self-assured in her own beliefs and capabilities. We also get to see through Prince Nikolai's outwardly faultless appearance. He offers Alina his hand in marriage, not just as a political ploy like in the second book, but now as a genuine offer. His vulnerability is real.
Nikolai also grows in terms of his leadership abilities. He's no longer shamed by the rumours - and truth - of his bastardly heritage. When Genya faces trial in the mountain base for poisoning the King, Nikolai doesn't hesitate to side with the tailor, publicly shaming his derelict father for the rape of his servitude and ultimately banishing him from what's left of the Ravkan kingdom. It's a powerful reversal of my original hesitation to support the character.
Finally, we get the desperately needed personal history of the Darkling. It's difficult to write about without spoiling one of the book's largest twists, but everyone knows the feeling of a story when all the little bits, pieces and stray strings come together in a moment where everything clicks. This is what we get from Ruin and Rising. Alina and Mal's orphanage, upbringing and powers, the constant interjection of Ravkan and Grisha mythology we receive throughout the series, and the pain, sorrow and loneliness suffered by both the Darkling and his mother. All of it intertwines, wrapping itself together into a new image of Ravka that titers on brink of collapse before the final battle ensues.
It's a lot to ask you, the reader, to invest your time into three books just for the finale of the third, but I think it's worth it. If you like fantasy and can stomach a certain amount of teenage sap, you'll enjoy Ruin and Rising. Perhaps the Shadow and Bone trilogy as a whole.