Title: Ruin and Rising
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Release Date: June 17th 2014
Number of Pages: 422
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Goodreads Synopsis
The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.
Now the nation’s fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.
Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.
Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova’s amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling’s secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.
I final finished this series and am really sad to say that it was pretty lacklustre for me. Like the previous book I felt like this took forever to get through as I keep putting off picking it up and really had to force myself to read it at times.
It’s not that this is a bad series per say but it just felt so similar to so many other YA books that there was just nothing there to really pull me in or keep my interest for more than a couple of chapters at a time.
I am also a massive character driven reader, if I can’t connect with the characters then no matter how amazing the plot is or how magnificent the writing I’m not going to connect with the book and that is something that I definitely felt with this book. The characters were just sort of there, I didn’t connect with them and when anything big or emotional happened with them I was just sort of like “meh” I just didn’t care to be honest. There were a few characters that I did like; Genya, Zoya and Nikolai however, I don’t feel that they got enough page time for me to fully fall in love with them and when we did see them their stories all interconnected with those that I didn’t really care for which I feel also distanced me from them.
Overall, I can see why so many people love this series and if I had read it when they were being released I would have loved them but now I suppose I’m older and my tastes have changed and it just felt way to similar to a lot of other YA fantasy of the time.
What are your thoughts on this series?
Journey into Books 