{"id":46645,"date":"2014-08-04T04:59:54","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T08:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=46645"},"modified":"2019-10-05T05:02:48","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T09:02:48","slug":"review-ruin-and-rising-shadow-and-bone-trilogy-3-by-leigh-bardugo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=46645","title":{"rendered":"Review:  Ruin and Rising (Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #3) by Leigh Bardugo"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><strong>Buy:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2MaUOHK\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kindle Ebook\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/35ivJU6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paperback\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2IodCly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Audio<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n<hr \/>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><!--Yasr Overall Rating Shortcode--><div class=\"yasr-overall-rating\"><div class=' yasr-rater-stars'\r\n                           id='yasr-overall-rating-rater-b389962b5e499'\r\n                           data-rating='4'\r\n                           data-rater-starsize='32'>\r\n                       <\/div><\/div><!--End Yasr Overall Rating Shortcode--><\/strong><\/h4>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><strong>Review<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Whoa, what a finish!<\/p>\n<p>Pretty much anything I say here is going to be a spoiler for the trilogy, but let me just say that this book had everything that I wanted as our troops rally and the preparations for the final battle begin. We saw everything, we got answers to everything, and every little story arc is tied up and finished off beautifully.<\/p>\n<p>But Leigh Bardugo certainly doesn\u2019t pull any punches, with not everybody making it through alive, and some pretty epic surprises along the way. A number of times I actually screamed to the room \u2018Noooooooooooooo!!!\u2019, but it was a great ride with lots of action, big reveals, great character dynamics, and even a little bit of romance.<\/p>\n<p>Alina\u2019s journey is full of heartache, but ultimately uplifting, and I loved the development of her character throughout the series. She\u2019s strong yet vulnerable, and the author mixed these parts of her really well. She is faced with so much, with massive expectations placed on her, and I really enjoyed watching her deal with all of that, and the impact that it had on her. She\u2019s definitely one of my favourite YA heroines.<\/p>\n<p>And then there\u2019s Mal. Strong, dependable, trustworthy Mal. He\u2019s a great character, and although I wish we could have gotten a bit more time with him, the time we do get shows us his selflessness and his absolute devotion to Alina, which is incredibly special.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>\u201cYou move forward, and when you falter, you get up. And when you can\u2019t, you let us carry you. You let me carry you.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Darkling continues to be a seductively sinister presence. Love him or hate him, you have to admit he is one intriguing character, and I really liked the different sides that we get to see of him. I also really like his \u2018relationship\u2019 with Alina, and the different facets of that. I thought that was shown really well in this book.<\/p>\n<p>But favourite of the series has to go to Nikolai. He brings so much to the book, and his arrogance and sarcasm provides a lot of lightness and entertainment to what is, essentially, a pretty dark story. He has some pretty huge moments in this book, and while I was broken hearted for him, he carries it off with style. You\u2019ve gotta love him!<\/p>\n<p>And yes, there\u2019s a love story. It\u2019s a little bit more present in this book than in the others, which makes sense as the story comes to a close. I loved it, and thoroughly enjoyed the little moments of swoon.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>\u201cHe cupped my cheek, his thumb tracing my lip. \u201cYou are all I\u2019ve ever wanted,\u201d he said. \u201cYou are the whole of my heart.\u201d <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Overall, I have really enjoyed this trilogy, and I\u2019m really happy with how everything ended. It\u2019s dark but fun, adventurous, intriguing and the fantasy element is great \u2013 very imaginative, but real enough to be maybe just a little bit believable.<\/p>\n<p>I loved it &#8211; 4 stars.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Shadow and Bone<\/strong><\/h4>\n<div data-post-id=\"46636\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-46636 \"><p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"46638\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?attachment_id=46638\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Shadow-and-Bone.jpg?fit=200%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"200,300\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Shadow and Bone\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Shadow-and-Bone.jpg?fit=150%2C225&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-46638\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Shadow-and-Bone.jpg?resize=80%2C122&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"122\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Shadow-and-Bone.jpg?resize=80%2C122&amp;ssl=1 80w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Shadow-and-Bone.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=80%2C122&amp;ssl=1 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 80px) 100vw, 80px\" \/> \u00a0<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"46644\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?attachment_id=46644\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Siege-and-Storm.jpg?fit=200%2C299&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"200,299\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Siege and Storm\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Siege-and-Storm.jpg?fit=150%2C225&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-46644\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Siege-and-Storm.jpg?resize=80%2C122&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"122\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Siege-and-Storm.jpg?resize=80%2C122&amp;ssl=1 80w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Siege-and-Storm.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=80%2C122&amp;ssl=1 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 80px) 100vw, 80px\" \/> \u00a0<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"46646\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?attachment_id=46646\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Ruin-and-Rising.jpg?fit=200%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"200,300\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Ruin and Rising\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Ruin-and-Rising.jpg?fit=150%2C225&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-46646\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Ruin-and-Rising.jpg?resize=80%2C122&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"122\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Ruin-and-Rising.jpg?resize=80%2C122&amp;ssl=1 80w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Ruin-and-Rising.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=80%2C122&amp;ssl=1 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 80px) 100vw, 80px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Shadow and Bone (#1)<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=46634\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Review<\/a><br \/>\nBuy:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/336DY3K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kindle Ebook\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/30OldAc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paperback\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2OlLP9i\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Audio<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Siege and Storm (#2)<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=46641\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Review<\/a><br \/>\nBuy:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2Msvj51\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2oh0CYi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paperback\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/30O4VYr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Audio<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ruin and Rising (#3)<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=46645\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Review<\/a><br \/>\nBuy:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2MaUOHK\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kindle Ebook\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/35ivJU6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paperback\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2IodCly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Audio<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Buy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback\u00a0 |\u00a0 Audio Review Whoa, what a finish! Pretty much anything I say here is going to be a spoiler for the trilogy, but let me just say that this book [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[454,522,9,12],"tags":[1049,48,1050],"class_list":["post-46645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-audio-recommendation","category-fantasy","category-romance","category-young-adult","tag-leigh-bardugo","tag-review","tag-shadow-and-bone"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Ruin-and-Rising.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-c8l","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}