Leigh Bardugo

Enter the Grishaverse with Book One of the Shadow and Bone Trilogy by the number one New York Times-bestselling author of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. Perfect for fans of Laini Taylor and Sarah J. Maas. Soldier. Summoner. Saint.The nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army. The Darkling rules from his shadow throne while a weakened Alina Starkov recovers from their battle under the dubious protection of the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Now her hopes lie with the magic of a long-vanished ancient creature and the chance that an outlaw prince still survives. As her allies and enemies race toward war, only Alina stands between her country and a rising tide of darkness that could destroy the world. To win this fight, she must seize a legend's power - but claiming the firebird may be her ruin. Praise for the Grishaverse: "Utterly, extremely bewitching." The Guardian "There's a level of emotional and historical sophistication within Bardugo's original epic fantasy that sets it apart." Vanity Fair "Unlike anything I've ever read." Veronica Roth, bestselling author of Divergent "This is a great choice for teenage fans of George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien." RT Book Reviews Read all the books in the Grishaverse! The Shadow and Bone Trilogy (previously published as The Grisha Trilogy) Shadow and Bone Siege and Storm Ruin and Rising The Six of Crows Duology Six of Crows Crooked Kingdom The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

Ruin and Rising

The Grishaverse will be coming to Netflix soon with Shadow and Bone, an original series! Enter the Grishaverse with Book Three of the Shadow and Bone Trilogy by the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. Soldier. Summoner. Saint.The nation’s fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army. The Darkling rules from his shadow throne while a weakened Alina Starkov recovers from their battle under the dubious protection of the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Now her hopes lie with the magic of a long-vanished ancient creature and the chance that an outlaw prince still survives. As her allies and enemies race toward war, only Alina stands between her country and a rising tide of darkness that could destroy the world. To win this fight, she must seize a legend’s power—but claiming the firebird may be her ruin. A New York Times Bestselling Series A USA Today Bestseller This title has Common Core connections. Read all the books in the Grishaverse! The Shadow and Bone Trilogy (previously published as The Grisha Trilogy) Shadow and Bone Siege and Storm Ruin and Rising The Six of Crows Duology Six of Crows Crooked Kingdom The King of Scars Duology King of Scars The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic The Severed Moon: A Year-Long Journal of Magic Praise for the Grishaverse “A master of fantasy.” —The Huffington Post “Utterly, extremely bewitching.” —The Guardian “The best magic universe since Harry Potter.” —Bustle “This is what fantasy is for.” —The New York Times Book Review “[A] world that feels real enough to have its own passport stamp.” —NPR “The darker it gets for the good guys, the better.” —Entertainment Weekly “Sultry, sweeping and picturesque. . . . Impossible to put down.” —USA Today “There’s a level of emotional and historical sophistication within Bardugo’s original epic fantasy that sets it apart.” —Vanity Fair “Unlike anything I’ve ever read.” —Veronica Roth, bestselling author of Divergent “Bardugo crafts a first-rate adventure, a poignant romance, and an intriguing mystery!” —Rick Riordan, bestselling author of the Percy Jackson series

shrey

“you’re all I ever wanted, you are the whole of my heart”

Julia Rutgers

He did not see the moment the girl ceased to bear her weakness as a burden and began to wear it as a guise.

kari <33

“Alina,” he said and kissed the scar on my palm, “I remember everything.” 

Loss. This was the price the world had demanded for balance. 

“Loss is loss,” Mal said. “You have the right to grieve.”

I could feel the ache of absence where my power had been like a phantom limb. 

“I am surrounded by fools,” Zoya said, but she was smiling. 

“If he gets any more charming, men and women may start lying down in the street for the privilege of being stepped on bt the new Ravkan King.”

How had he found me? Stupid question. Mal would always find me. 

Well, if I’m going to be a monster, I might as well be king of the monsters. 

The Unsea always felt like the end of everything. It wasn’t only the dark, it was the terrible isolation, as if the world had disappeared, leaving only you, the rattle of your breath, the stuttering beat of your heart. 

It was all we needed. It was all we would ever have have. 

“You’re all I’ve ever wanted,” he said. “You are the whole of my heart.”

“Just tell me this isn’t goodbye. That’s the only vow I need.” 

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 (serious.)

Then he drew back, searching my eyes. “I wanted more for you,” he said. “A white veil in your hair. Vows we could keep.” 

I kissed him then—with grief and need and years of longing, with the desperate hope that I could keep him here in my arms, with the damning knowledge that I could not. 

“But no matter who or what I was, I would have been yours.”

And if I was honest with myself, I envied their faith. If I could believe I had been blessed by some divine purpose, it might make the hard choices easier. 

“I know you don’t believe as Tamar and I do,” he said, “but no matter how this ends, I’m glad our faith has brought us to you.”

It was stupid. It was dangerous. But Ana Kuya used to tell me that hope was tricky like water. Somehow it always found a way in. 

You were meant to be my balance. What I felt for Mal was messy and stubborn and might leave me heartbroken in the end, but it was also human. 

Made me cry a little bit towards the end. But as expected after the second book, those two should have been one larger book instead of two separate ones to make it a duology. As much as I was looking forward to the ending and enjoying the read, it was somewhat long winded in parts and could have been cut down by at least 50 pages. Otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and the emergence from the descriptive type of it. 

Noumbé Diop

Easy to read trilogy, interesting premise. Overall it's a fun read with a good moral and it holds to it without making exceptions for the good characters which is nice. A few really strong emotional moments. 

I wouldn't recommend it as a literary marvel but I would recommend it as a fun and easy fantasy series. 

Liam Richardson

Easy to read trilogy, interesting premise. Overall it's a fun read with a good moral and it holds to it without making exceptions for the good characters which is nice. A few really strong emotional moments. 

I wouldn't recommend it as a literary marvel but I would recommend it as a fun and easy fantasy series. 

Skylar Davis

After weeks of procrastination, I finally finished reading this. I decided to first read the trilogy only because I wanted to read Six of Crows. I know we can skip over it and just read Six of Crows but I don't like spoilers, no matter how little or insignificant they are.

-Nikolai gave me a heart attack like. Almost thought that my favourite character and the most interesting one (BY FAR) was a goner.

-The final battle was... underwhelming. For it to be the climax, I would have liked something more impactful.

-Mal being the amplifier was a cool, unexpected twist for a sometimes uninspiring reading (except every Nikolai moment).

-Mal and Alina's happy ending... I would say I am radiant for them if I cared for their romance... which I don't. Not a hater, just thought that the whole love confusion/triangle/mess was unnecessary and some of its excessive moments could've been skipped. 

-I just feel like this whole story could have been better executed.

Marta

3.75 ★

After weeks of procrastination, I finally finished reading this. I decided to first read the trilogy only because I wanted to read Six of Crows. I know we can skip over it and just read Six of Crows but I don't like spoilers, no matter how little or insignificant they are.

Some not spoiler-free thoughts: 

-This book picks up on its second half. 

- Nikolai hard carried, as usual.

-Nikolai gave me a heart attack like. Almost thought that my favourite character and the most interesting one (BY FAR) was a goner.

-The final battle was... underwhelming. For it to be the climax, I would have liked something more impactful.

-The Darkling was not developed to its full potential. Not even close...

-Mal being the amplifier was a cool, unexpected twist for a sometimes uninspiring reading (except every Nikolai moment).

-Mal and Alina's happy ending... I would say I am radiant for them if I cared for their romance... which I don't. Not a hater, just thought that the whole love confusion/triangle/mess was unnecessary and some of its excessive moments could've been skipped. 

-I just feel like this whole story could have been better executed.

- Conclusion: Nikolai!

wonderful ending to this trilogy. had me in tears. 

Lauren R

Myriam Boulanger Lapointe

Jennifer Gosnell

Wow. What a conclusion. A lot of action and adventure, and I really loved the character building. 

Also. 
“You will always be one of us” absolutely broke me. It was the perfect ending. Bittersweet, and beautiful.

(3.5) This was a good book towards the end and last half of the middle part. I was so glad that the drama with the Mal stuff was over (FINALLY), it was dragging on for too long. Also, the beginning and half of the middle was just the repetition of the second book. The plot was also dragged out. I would also have liked to see Nikolai get more of a moment, and am I the only one but I kinda shipped him and Alina???? Idk I feel as if they would have been a good match.

Anna 

the last book of shadow and bone series was similar to the previous two books, so the review is going to be similar as well. 
I did enjoy it, I read it quickly and started to care for some of the characters (ehm ehm nikolai) plus I fell in love with the grishaverse in general. I still didn't really like alina and mal but I got over it and it didn't really bother me anymore. I had some problems with the ending, didn't really want it to end so... normally? I don't know, probably expected something more interesting, but that's okay. 
so yeah, I really like the series. don't ask me why and how when the main character was literally punchable all the time, I just fell in love with ravka (and mainly nikolai) :)

yousr abu sboulah

poor nikolai he must have severe back pain from carrying the whole series on his back 😳

wow…. absolutely beautiful malina i love u forever 

Shaq H

clau☁️

Helena

** spoiler alert **
           i truly don’t know how I feel right now but I’ll try to put it into words so at least I can go back to this later.

This book... I hated it, then it made me so excited and then I just didn’t understand why Leigh would ever end it like this.

1. I couldn’t connect with Alina since the first book, she’s never been a good mc for me, but specially in this last book she was so annoying to me. Maybe it’s because it’s written in her pov and she’s so confused all the time but i just couldn’t understand her actions or personality.

2. Mal grew on me in this book, I have to say. Maybe it’s because I love when characters are willing to die for the greater good and he was so sure about giving his life to save Ravka and Alina, but i thought he was way better than the jealous annoying Mal in the first books.

3. The Darkling’s ending..... I pity him. Why did no one give him a chance? I feel like he saw in Alina an opportunity to complete his mission, but deep down she meant so much more to him, being his equal. I feel like if Alina had had a little bit more compassion towards him, maybe even tried to convince him of destroying the fold together and tried to ‘bring him to the light’ (star wars speaking), he wouldn’t have hesitated that much. At the end, he wanted a better country, and a better place for Grisha. So maybe if they had giving him other options, specially if he had had the support of Alina, I think he could have gotten a good redemption arc. But they merely dismissed him as the villain and nothing more, nobody cared about the Aleksander behind the Darkling, and Alina could have been the one to make that change in him. 

4. Nikolai was just the star of the trilogy for me. My favorite character no doubts, and I think what happened to him in this book was.... interesting. I can’t wait to see more of him in the next books. 
Also, how could someone ever reject him ??????
See, I’ll never understand Alina.

5. I also loved Misha and Zoya so much in this book. Genya and David were cute and I like them better now. I really enjoyed Genya’s character development.

6. Finally, Alina and Mal loosing their powers..... I just won’t comment on that. But the scene where they bring her the blue kefta to the orphanage made me emotional.

Hanna Rybchynska

This was an amazing end for this series! 
I will miss so much Alina and Mal... And something is really wrong with me because I love Darkling...

Ruina y ascenso

hemera

el mejor libro de la trilogía, de verdad. hacía tiempo que una trilogía no me dejaba así, desde los juegos del hambre. me encanta cómo escribe legih berdugo, la forma que tiene de narrar los sentimientos y todo. las escenas de dolor y de felicidad, increíble.


(los días 16 y 17 de julio no pude leer. total días lectura: 4)

Ill be honest, I read it so I can peacefully read Six of Crows. Ot wasn’t perfect, I would prefer it to go different way a lot of the times, but the characters grew on me and I was mourning every loss. I absolutely hate Mal, tho. And Nikolai was definitely the best part of it all.

karo

Auf random nur das letzte Drittel gelesen und freu mich, dass Alina und Mal endgame sind. Jetzt weiß ich zum Glück auch, dass Darkling noch einen normalen Namen hat und, dass Genia und David finally zusammen sind <3

Leon

Christine

*raises both eyebrows*

W H Y DO PEOPLE SHIP DARKLINA I'LL DIE MAD ABOUT IT WHY

Meg Ma. Guerrero 

at long last im done with this series lmao

first half was a snooze save for all the nikolai moments because we love the man and he deserves all the rights. only when i was like ...3/4 into it did things get more fun (that's a lie, there were parts earlier in the book that were interesting but still) lmao

don't wanna get into detail because i have No Thoughts always but i enjoyed it, i'm more or less happy with the ending and i'm just glad i can move on to crooked kingdom now and king of scars

gülefşan 

i'm gonna defend darkling until my last breath.

Julie Rubens

Not my favorite series ever, but definitely excited for the Netflix show!!

Ruin and Rising

Reviews

Highlights