The Grisha Trilogy By Leigh Bardugo
Rating
5 perfect stars
Date Read
16/7/16 - 23/7/16
Age Group
14+General Thoughts
The perfect ending to the Grisha Trilogy, delivered in a flaming red hardcover. There's not much left to say except endless praise to the author because I hadn't expected to join all the raving fans who adored the Grisha Trilogy and yet here I am. I opted for the page by page review again, so here it goes:
Page 65: Dialogues
Mal has changed
My, how the tables have turned... The cocky, easy going, quick to adapt soldier, tracker and guard, who never really saw his mousy, frail and sickly childhood friend is now pining after her but realising she's out of his league.
Mal and Alina's conversations are something to read about. Maybe it's their growing up together, maybe it's the shared experience and pain, maybe they just fit, but their witty banter back and forth is something Alina has with no one else, not even definitely not with the Darling.
Her conversations with Nicolai, of course were plenty entertaining, but that had more to do with the prince's high IQ, EQ and loud mouthed arrogance than their compatibility.
Page 191: The Darkling, Nicolai & a Recap of Books 1& 2
(Aka, serious spoilers about the previous books)
I want more of the Darkling.
Alina keeps quoting him. I know what I said about his quoting worthy words, but I still don't much care for her repeating him, despite the wisdom of his words due to the centuries he's suffered through. I want the original.
I want him.
Then again, as Nicolai once said, the less you say the more weigh your words carry.
And the Drakling's laconic way of speaking has a way of ingraving his words deep into our minds.
On a different note, he's turned really dark. I'm not joking. I know his name is kind of hinting at that (well, duh) and that he's freaking supposed to be dark. It's part of his charm. Scratch that, it's all of his charm.
But still, he was never more ruthless or cruel than when he was desperate and in this final installment he has nothing to lose.
But still, he was never more ruthless or cruel than when he was desperate and in this final installment he has nothing to lose.
The Darkling
What I mean is, in the first book the heroine falls in love with the idea of him (right along with all of us reading). He sweeps her off her feet and lands her in a palace, giving her a place she can belong. He's powerful and he draws her in and she drinks his attention in, warmed by the flame of his gaze. She's heard all the awful rumors about him, true. But like calls to like and Alina and the Darkling are more alike than she'd like to admit. Also she's still naive and innocent, eager to believe.
Then she learns the truth, realises she's been manipulated and escapes him. That, of course, enrages him. He gives up his facade in favour of his true face: he's audacious, brilliant, arrogant, and hungry for power. He follows her to Chibeya and claims her power as his own by placing the stag's antlers, the first of Morozova's amplifiers, on her neck. Or tries to anyway.
He's got no boundaries, ethics or ideals. He may have had once but centuries of pain have succeeded in erasing anything human about him.
Consequently, in Siege and Storm, Alina has made her choice and is unwavering in it. She's a better judge of character than me and realises that the Darkling is not love interest material. The fact that he didn't just threaten but actually tried to go through with his warning of killing Mal was the final straw and she's not giving him any more chances to hurt her. Still, though, she cannot deny that she doesn't actually hate him.
Even when he has his nichevo-ya bite her, abducts her, stacks her on a ship and takes her up north, in search of a second amplifier in the icy waters, whilst openly threatening her with torture to motivate the tracker, even then, she doesn't hate him.
Then she escapes him yet again with a priveteer, a smuggler, a pirate. Who turns out to be a prince. But more about that below.
Back to the point. Alina's second escape, though plenty dramatic what with the coup and the flying ships, is a lot less drastic than her first, taking into account that she never truly escapes him.
She was already connected to him by the antlers but the nichevoya bite has now tied them together. It has granted him the ability to visit her in visions, disturbing her dreams, soaking up her time, complicating her relationship with Mal, shaking her to the point that she begins to question her sanity.
Why?
Because he's lonely.
Eternity has been harsh on him and he's never, in all his long life, really connected to someone. Being the top is lonely and power like his is hard to come by. He's one of a kind. And Alina, although he never proves that he loves her strictly speaking, is the closest thing to a companion he's ever come by.
So his visits were a kind of proof that he was human, lonely.
In Ruin and Rising though? He's out of control.
Maybe he always was. But now it's more obvious than ever, because he's no longer pretending for anyone's sake.
After the last battle in the final few chapters of Siege and Storm, and their connection through merzost (aka when Alina tried to kill him and earned herself white hair and a parlor shadows trick) he's desperate.
He was always cold and calculating. It had been easy for him to win young and orphaned Alina over. But now the pupil has proved herself quite competent and is putting up a good fight.
And so he's crueler, darker, colder than ever.
This final battle is one to watch out for.
Nicolai Lantsov
I'd like to take a second to talk about Nicolai because he's an all time favourite character. Then again, in this book, isn't everyone? Well, yes, but the Darkling and Nicolai truly stand out. In a different book, Mal could have been your usual All-American golden boy, an overachiever, straight-A student, the jock with the dazzling grin and perfect white teeth. In that version Genya would probably have been a bitchy cheerleader, David the science nerd and Tolya and Tamar the high school dropouts. But Nicolai and the Darkling would have no place in such a world.
They're original and unique and belong in Ravka. They are both passionate about their country and wish to protect it. They're both ambitious and intelligent. But where the Darkling is borderline psychopathic, Nicolai Lantsov is warm and funny and cocky.
And he has the admirable, if disturbing, ability to adapt to his audience to an extent that he's a ruthless pirate, a strong soldier, a golden prince and a charming suitor all rolled up into one. So many faces. So multi-dimensional.
So unique.
Page 229: The I'm-in-love Kind Of Book
There are different kinds of books. There are the light ones that you read in a couple of days. Those kind of blur and fade into each other, well written and enjoyable but not original enough to be more memorable. Most of the YA - NA romances I read are like that.
Then there are the long tiring ones, that you're determines to finish but they kind of drain you. Those can take a week up to a month to finish and you read them more because they are so very well written and less for personal enjoyment. For me that's the classics, or the bit historical fantasy I've dabbled in.
And next there are this kind of books. The type where the world building and the characters and the dialogues and the plot all make up for a novel that you can't devour fast enough. Still you want to savior it, to make it count, to make sure you remember every little gorgeous detail. The Winner's Curse, An Ember In The Ashes, Rebel of the Sands, Assassin's Curse, The Rephaim Series. that type of thing.
And so I tried to make Ruin and Rising last, reading it as slowly as I could bear.
Still, it was the kind of book that I get depressed reading. I don't know why, although it's happenned before. It might have something to do with the unfairness of the dystopian world, the heroine's helplessness or the grief for her loss. It might also have to do with my not wanting to say goodbye to the characters.
I don't' read all kinds of sequels. The book must have potential, the heroine must be more than likeable, the supportive characters must be interesting and well developed, the world must be drawn with infinite detail etc.
But when I do... when you spend a number of books with the same characters you grow attached to them. There's a sweet melancholy to reading the last of someone.
Last page: The Ending
Was I worried about how Leigh would choose to end the Grisha Trilogy? I shouldn't have been. The ending was fitting, perfect just like the rest of the series and everything about them. There was closure in the ending and the appropriate amount of tears. The characters had come a full circle.
All in all
Reading an extraordinary book is not something that happens often. Reading an extraordinary book that also fits your personal taste is even rarer. But an extraordinary book that fits your taste and has a perfect set of characters to like love hate and mourn, sometimes all simultaneously, a plot that leaves you breathless and a world that you'd wish you lived in?
The Grisha trilogy is a must read.
XOXO
Aggie Pearson
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