Ruin and Rising

Read in one sitting! That's how freaking good this conclusion was.In my view, the ending is paramount. So many stories sour due to a bad ending. It is the worst thing that can happen to a good story besides it having no ending at all (looking at you George Martin). I was afraid to go into Ruin and Rising. The first book of the trilogy - [b:Shadow and Bone 10194157 Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #1) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1339533695l/10194157.SX50.jpg 15093325] - was a very safe 3/5 for me, the very definition of a fine/alright YA fantasy. [b:Siege and Storm 14061955 Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #2) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1362166252l/14061955.SX50.jpg 19699752] was an optimistic 3.5/5 rounded up to 4/5 because of Nikolai being amazing. Both had some serious issues that were seemingly predicting a weak ending.I was so pleasantly surprised that the ending surpassed all of my expectations. While I was able to predict some of the twists, it had so many surprises in store that left me sad to leave the story of Alina Starkov behind.Altogether this trilogy is fantastic and a must-read for all fantasy fans. Goodbye, Aleksander.