Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo | My heart is happy {Yomna's Review}

My rating:
4.5/5

Wow, that was.....an experience!

Spoilers!

I struggled slightly with the first two books in this trilogy because I felt they were slow, but no such flaw exists with this. Leigh Bardugo is amazing and she had me holding my breath till the end. I COULDN'T STOP READING! It was one big thing after the other and all I could do was hold on for dear life! 

I love how this book doesn't have a tagline on the cover; It needs no explanation. And I was surprised at the accuracy of the title. This book ruined me. I was in tears from the gorgeousness and the incredibleness of the ending. But I rose from the ashes and healed. And now I'm here to write this review. (Dramatic much). You guys better appreciate my thoughts, because it takes effort to come back after this book. 

The best thing about this book is how complex all the characters in the book. There are no minor characters here, they all have substance and personality. I honestly don't know how Leigh Bardugo fit all this awesome in an average-length book. 

And wow, I loved the ending so much. Even though Alina loses her power, which was upsetting, it's still very hopeful and sweet in the best way possible. However, I was pretty upset about Alina losing her power. It's not that I don't think the message that "power lies in ordinary people" is bad, but to me it felt like she lost the essence of herself. If Alina isn't the sun summoner, who is she? 

What I am happy about is that Alina ended up with Mal. I was so down for their relationship; they were perfect together. Although I must say that with this love triangle I wouldn't have minded Nikolai either. He had an evil streak and it was pretty interesting.

My biggest conflict with this book was how to consider the Darkling. At one hand, he's an evil villain responsible for thousands of deaths, but on the other hand, his death has turned him into a tragic hero, with his fatal flaw being his unending greed. Only a powerful writer can evoke sympathy for the villain of the story. Honestly, this book has made me 1000000x more excited to read Six of Crows. I imagine it's just as epic, if not even more so. 

"The names they gave were false ones, though the vows they made were true."

Thanks,

Yomna