Ruin and Rising

Grandioser Abschluss der Grisha-Trilogie mit einem mitreißenden Finale im Kampf gegen den Dunklen und einem vielleicht etwas zu glatten Ende für die beiden Hauptcharaktere.

Finaler und brillianter Teil der Serie. Ich konnte das Buch nicht mehr aus der Hand legen. Evtl war ich kein Fan des Endes, aber ich glaube das ist Geschmackssache.

(spoilers) my favourite book from the trilogy. The first few chapters are reeaally boring. For me, the book began when they escaped the underground. And it really started getting exciting when they got to the spinning wheel.It had quit a lot of (small) plottwist. As for the characters: Mal still sucks. He's still annoying and jealous ALL THE TIME. Honestly, when he was revealed to be the third amplifier, I almost screamed: finally, let him die like a hero and end it. Well, he died. But came back. meh. Alina. She confused me, really. I like her but sometimes I really thought she's the villain. Nikolai: Perfect as always. Saved their asses multiple times. Idk what to think about him and Alina, I felt like they were really good friends but could also be more. It broke my heart in thousand peaces when he was turned into the monster. I feel like it was a really good way to show us just how serious it all was, because we have our all confident privateer who always seems to have a solution and in the next moment he seems helpless. Also his interaction with Alina was super emotional. The Darkling: I think he got his perfect ending. He died as a boy with too much power and greed, not as a villain. The others: I like Tolya and I love Tamar. Zoya is still Zoya, but she really gets likeable. I'm kinda sorry for Sergei. We don't see much of Nadia but Adrik is a cool new character. Genya... She made a mistake, she paid for it, she learned from it. I still like her. David is quite a funny character. Extra: Tamar and Nadia so cute *-* but also Genya and David :) Now to the ending and why it disappeared me: 1. It was unlogical af I didn't understand half of it. Like are there now new Sun Summoners instead of Alina? Or was it only temporarily? 2. Way too happy. Mal should have died and I'm not only saying this bc I don't like him. It was just way too unrealistic that he somehow came back from the dead. Also: Alina and Mal now own a orphanage. And no-one recognises them? She has frickn white hair and is probably the most famous person in Ravka. Anyways, I loved this book.

Ok, where to begin with this one … Disclaimer: Depending on where you draw the line, there might be a mild spoiler in here. This was definitely the best one out of the three and the ending made sure that it would be a four-star-review. Also, this third book really packs some punches. For instance, Nikolai’s storyline almost made me cry, and it was this and two other actions by the Darkling that have me flabbergasted at the fact that he is so well loved. He is cruel, and in my eyes nothing could have excused his actions. It’s interesting, because I think that if he was a better person he wouldn’t be too different to Nikolai. The prince is driven too, knows what he wants, talks smooth and is great at strategising. But he’s also respectfull, listens to people around him and takes their opinion into account if they’re valuable. He’s no angel but he’s ten times the man the Darlkling is. I’m glad that Mal got back his place. It was necessary to pay more attention to him in the third book again, I know, but I think the author wrote him well. Alina and I, on the other hand, probably won’t ever be best friends. I don’t like her. I know she has quite the burden to carry and it couldn’t have been easy but she was just more a child in my mind than a young adult. The way she gambled her and mostly the safety of others at points in the story was mind-boggling. It also portrayed that the author often let drama and bad things happen whenever the characters made a dumb decision. That was very prevalent in the second book but carried on in the third one. Sometimes it seemed like the characters had forgotten who and where they were and instead acted as if nothing could harm them. I see that this can be authentic but it happened just a few times too many for me to believe that it was them being a bit careless. Ultimately, I think I could’ve not read this series and be a-ok just the same. But that might well be because I’m not a teenager anymore. I can imagine that my younger self would have enjoyed these books a lot more.

THE WORLD: To be honest, the world is a little bit changed in this book. Surely, we still have Ravka divided by the Fold and magic of the Grisha but...so the most part of the Ravka is ruled by the Darkling. The West Part of the Ravka declared for Nikolai and where is our Sun Summoner? Well she is locked underground and then traveling around trying to find Firebird. It is a little bit sad because we did not have to see anything new of Ravka, no further development of the world. CHARACTERS: Alina is the Sun Summoner and now a focus of the religious fanatics cult who believe her to be a saint. The Darkling is rather an opposite, everybody believes him to be an evil tyrant ruling Ravka in blood. But to be honest, Alina is rather boring in this book. She is really just a poor little girl all weak and whiny one again. So much potential and such a disappointment. The Darkling...he is just evil. I really miss his charm from the book one. And I really did not like how he acted in the last scene..was rather...hmm...wtf? Then we have Mal...you guys know how much I hate Mal, well that did not change. I agree with people saying that he is a little bit less annoying as before but still...I miss good old times when Mal was nobody and well literary not in the story! But we also got to know other Grisha in this book more which I really liked. Yes, it is no secret that when reading about them all traveling and fighting I saw three musketeers story between my eyes but oh well... I love Genya and Zoya is not so bad too after all. What I did find troubling with the characters though is the fact that so many died. For me I started not to register names anymore because well... everybody dies. LOVE: No more love triangle. Darkling is completely out of the picture as love interest. There is of course Nikolai but who are we kidding. It is more than clear Alina is with Mal and Mal only from page one. Sad. PLUS: This book was definitely more easy than the second book in the trilogy. But personally I did not like much how the story ended. It was okay I guess. But only okay. MINUS: I am a little bit disappointed. I missed court. The Apparat part really killed me. And some things made no sense. I am sorry. I really loved the first book and I was expecting way much more from the story. EXTRA: I loved the story itself, I loved the world and the magic of Grisha. But it left me disappointed. Four out of five stars mainly because of the world the story is based in.