About 9 h 30 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 20 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
Beneath Ravka, Alina Starkov recovers from defeat in an underground refuge where her protectors worship her as a saint and keep her under watch. Above ground, the Darkling rules the country. With Mal, the tracker she grew up with, and the remnants of the Grisha magical army, she must find the legendary firebird to strengthen her powers and seek the missing prince Nikolai’s help in fighting back.
Reader notes
The quest moves between magical combat and Alina’s struggle with love, loyalty, and her own desire for power. Romantic tension is prominent, with little sexual detail, while the violence includes bloody deaths. This YA epic fantasy concludes the Grisha Trilogy and assumes familiarity with the earlier books.
How it reads
Writing style
Atmospheric · Descriptive · Direct
Tone
Atmospheric · Dark · Suspenseful · Tense
Structure
Linear
Driven by
Character · Plot · Worldbuilding
Point of view
First person
Setting
Ravka (invented world)
Reading complexity
Writing
2 / 5
Ideas
3 / 5
Structure
3 / 5
Background knowledge
4 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
Writing
How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas
How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure
How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge
Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity
Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Yes, Ruin and Rising concludes the Grisha Trilogy and assumes familiarity with the earlier books. Alina’s quest follows her defeat, with the Darkling ruling Ravka and the Grisha army reduced to remnants.
How steamy is it?
The content notes flag mild sexual content.
How violent is it?
Strong violence includes bloody deaths and magical combat. The quest unfolds in a dark, tense military setting, with Alina and the remnants of the Grisha army seeking a way to fight back.
Is it hard to read?
The direct prose, linear structure, and first-person narration make the storytelling relatively accessible. The greater demand is familiarity with the earlier books, as Alina’s quest builds on an existing conflict and relationships.
Is it more action or romance?
The brisk quest moves between magical combat and Alina’s struggles with love, loyalty, and power. Romantic tension is prominent, alongside the search for the legendary firebird and help against the Darkling.
How long is it?
480 pages in the Square Fish 2015 paperback edition.
Which edition is shown here?
Square Fish · 2015 · paperback. ISBN 9781250063168.
How long does it take to read Ruin and Rising?
About 9 hours 30 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 480-page Square Fish edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the author
Leigh Bardugo
Leigh Bardugo is an Israeli-American fantasy writer whose work ranges from the young adult Grishaverse novels to adult paranormal fiction. Her stories place vulnerable outsiders inside institutions that want to recruit, control, or exploit their unusual abilities. Atmospheric settings and clearly defined magical powers support plots driven by political maneuvering, divided loyalties, and dangerous bargains. Shadow and Bone follows an orphaned mapmaker whose gift draws her into military training and court manipulation, establishing Bardugo’s interest in the contested ownership of power. Six of Crows reshapes that world as a tightly engineered heist, using shifting viewpoints, specialized roles, private histories, and successive reversals to make trust part of the plot’s machinery. In Ninth House, she moves to a Gothic version of Yale, where secret societies practice occult magic and a troubled student who sees ghosts investigates their abuses. Bardugo’s prose is descriptive but direct, keeping elaborate fantasy settings legible while maintaining brisk narrative momentum.
