Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo Book Review

Hey everyone!

Time for my first "active reads" book review of the year and I'm pretty excited. I just finished like 10 min ago.

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Amazon Description: 
The capital has fallen. 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.

So this is book three of Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy. My general overview thoughts are very "meh." I felt like there needed to be something more epic to finish the story. This book gets a 3.5/5 stars for me, and the whole series gets 3/5 stars. More detailed review below.

"I will strip away all that you know, all that you love, until you have no shelter but me" - The Darkling

Characters: Overall, I didn't have any particular feelings for any of the characters. The only two people in this series I actually enjoyed reading were Nikolai and Baghra. Even still, I didn't really care enough, you know?

• Alina - I really wanted to care about her. I did, I wanted to, but I just couldn't. I couldn't really relate to her or anything she was going through. Some of the choices she made, I would never had chosen for myself, so it made it very hard for me to understand what she was going through.
• Mal - Okay, I lied, I did really like Mal in this book. I liked that he finally grew up because Alina wouldn't. One of my fave quotes of his, he is trying to make sure she knows that she isn't alone in the fight.  He says "You move forward, and when you falter, you get up. And when you can't, you let us carry you. You let me carry you." *Swoon* That's a lie. I didn't swoon, more like casual eye roll. But it's a damn good quote and I want someone to say that to me and mean it someday.
• Nikolai - His comedy is what made this book. He says things like "Please tell me you're going to dress like a volcra and jump out a cake" and "When I was ten, my parents hired a clown." as a joke both in really serious situations and I died. Also, he basically told his dad to eff off or else he'd charge him with rape. Not gonna lie, I was proud of my fictional character.
• The Darkling - I have nothing new or insightful to say about him except he was a genocidal piece of crap and he deserved what he got.
• Baghra - I FREAKING LOVE THIS WOMAN! Like, so so much. She was your perfect crotchety old grandma type lady, but she was also a bad-effing-ass. Favorite quote of the whole book is this one: "We say like calls to like, girl. But if the science is small enough then we are all like things. The light lives in the spaces between. It is there in the soil of the mountain, in the rock and in the snow. The Cut is already made." So, it's this scene, where she is giving Alina lessons and she basically asks Alina to break of the top of a freaking mountain. And oh, by the way, do it in front of the entire army and your friends. Just, perfect. I have another favorite but I'll save that for the spoiler-y section.

Plot:

So this book's plot was not what I was hoping for. This book is a good YA book, but I wanted epic Grisha battles, not love squares and whiny women. The end was okay, but I would have liked a better more thought out climax to the story. The plot leading up to the final climax though was very, very good and held my interest pretty tight.

So here comes my spoiler-y section. I tried something new with the click-y stuff and it didn't work so if you have't read Ruin and Rising please skip the section in-between the two ****s!

****SPOILER SECTION****

Alright, so I really loved that Mal was the third amplifier. I can say I definitely didn't see that coming. I did not like that he had to die in order to obtain the power, and I really didn't like that he came back. I'm of the opinion that when a character's death is that important to the story line, they should stay dead. It happened with Garth Nix in Abhorsen and other such books. To me, if it's important for them to die, then the characters have to deal with that subsequent loss. It's too easy to be like "oh yeah, I'll just bring them back later..."

Side note: His tattoo "I am become a blade" makes no grammatical sense and I couldn't even, so I'm going to pretend like it says "I become the blade" or something awesome like that.

Also, can we please talk about Baghra? She is incredible. She was going up against her own son, someone who she protected for decades even though he was an evil, genocidal maniac. And before she starts she says "Know that I love you, know that it wasn't enough." That time I swooned. That is what you call a sacrifice. Bam. Love her.
****END SPOILER SECTION****
Like I said before, just "meh" from me.

Hope you guys have a great week ahead! 

Let me know what you thought of the book and what you're currently reading.

Currently Reading: Truthwitch by Susan Dennard and The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld

Hobey ho!

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2016 Bookish Resolutions

Hey guys,

It has been a while since I've updated. I know that. I didn't find that I was getting any value out of what I was posting before. But after a year of watching booktube videos and reading countless book reviews around Goodreads and other bookish blogs, I think I'm finally ready to discuss books again.  My thoughts opinions and general feelings about books that I read.

2015 was a difficult year for me. I moved. Twice. Celebrated the life of one of my best friends I lost around Christmas of 2014. My mom moved four hours away. Several family members got sick. And I struggled financially, a lot.

It was also an excellent year. I made lots of new friends. Moved in to a new apartment, thus dubbed The Castle. Got promoted. Had the privilege of being the maid of honor in my best friend's wedding. Fell in like (yes, like, not love) with an alright guy. Subsequently made peace with the departure of said alright guy.

I read 49 books in 2015. All fiction, mostly fantasy with a few sci-fi/historical/contemporary sprinkled in there. Most of the books I read in the months of September - December. This makes me very hopeful for achieving my goals for 2016.

Disclaimer: I don't want to constrain myself to a specific list of books, or even a general "read x number of books of this genre" list of books to read. I find that I get bored with the list and then super sad that I'm missing other books that have come out. So I'm not going to do that.

Here are my 2016 goals:

1. Read 60 books - So, I don't think this is a lofty goal. I think this goal is extremely achievable. But I also know myself, and I know that reading slumps happen (weekends mostly because debauchery). So I'm hoping to blow this goal out of the water, but know that 60 in itself is still a challenge.

2. Review at least 30 books - I'd like to post reviews on at least half of the books I read this year. My reviews are going to be a bit different from before. In fact, I almost would like to get rid of my past reviews, they were awful and not insightful in any way. This goal entails me actually taking notes while reading. Not just saying things like "remember that thing that happened? When he/she/alien said something close to....?" No. I want to actively read. I want to notice more and setting this goal will help me achieve that. Yes, most of my reviews will have spoilers and yes, I will warn you.

3. Finish the freaking Wheel of Time series - It's about god damn time. Get it? Get it? It's a pun.

4. Be okay with DNF - For someone with extreme anxiety problems, this will be hard for me. But considering I have a TBR of over 200 books, #aintnobodygottimeforthat.

5. Read better - In the most esteemed words of Indigo Montoya "Okay, okay, let me explain. No no, there is too much, let me sum up." There are obviously books that are all over the internet. Books that everyone is talking about. Books that you simply *have* to read. A lot of these books are worth the hype, I totally understand that (thank you, Throne of Glass). However, I know what I like. I know why I read. If something doesn't interest me, again, I don't want to waste time on something, that I will probably not hate, but won't love as much as something else. Again #aintnobodygottimeforthat. I want to read better. I want to read what I want to read and not let anyone else tell me I *have* to read something else.

So those are my 5 goals for 2016. I've already finished two books for this year and they are The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson (5/5 stars) and The Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor (3/5 stars). Didn't follow Goal #2, so no review for that one.

Currently reading: Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Let me know what some of your goals are!

Hobey-ho!

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