★★★★☆ The third amplifier

Ruin and Rising

Leigh Bardugo

The Shadow and Bone Trilogy holds together better as a whole than each individual novel does on its own. Having finished Ruin and Rising, it is now clear that there was an overall plan for the series. It revolved around the quest of Sankt Ilya Morozova (which is only now fully revealed) and the three amplifiers he created. In Shadow and Bone Alina was given a picture of Sankt Ilya in an old book that showed him with three animals: a stag, a sea serpent (the Sea Whip), and the firebird. The stag was revealed to be an amplifier, i.e., a magical item that could amplify the magic of a Grisha bonded to it.

The climactic events of Shadow and Bone revolved around the staghorn collar made from the horns of Morozova's stag and bonded to Alina. The Darkling put Alina and Mal up to the hunt for the stag and killed the stag himself, giving him, as he believed, control over the collar and thereby Alina. Siege and Storm began with the Darkling hiring a pirate (Prince Nikolai in disguise) to hunt the Sea Whip. This hunt successful, Alina now bears a gauntlet made of the Sea Whip's scales, which together with the staghorn collar make her even more powerful.

Siege and Storm ended with the Darkling invading Ravka and investing Os Alta. However, he failed to capture Alina, Mal, or Nikolai. Alina and Mal are somewhat safe with those who worship her as Sankta Alina. Nikolai escaped in his aircraft and is acting as the Crown Prince in Exile of Ravka. (Although Nikolai is not the King's biological son, he was born of the Queen while she was wedded to the King, making Nikolai a legitimate heir. His succession to the throne would end the Lantsov line, but, since the King is a feckless lecher and the eldest son Vasily, now dead, some combination of fool and traitor, the end of the Lantsovs is only to be celebrated.) The Darkling is strong, both in himself and in his support, while Nikolai and Alina are weak. Alina's only hope is to acquire the third amplifier. The Darkling knows this, of course. He, too, wants that amplifier found, believing that he will in the end be able to control it and Alina's magic.

And that's the quest! Will Mal and Alina and their allies find the firebird? Will they be able to fashion a third amplifier? Will they defeat the Darkling? Will Nikolai become King in fact as well as in name? Will Mal and Alina consummate their love and live happily ever after? (Yes, I know, Alina is also being chased by the Darkling and Nikolai, but come on! It's been clear from page one of Shadow and Bone that Leigh Bardugo sees Alina and Mal as the star-crossed lovers of this story.)

I'm not telling. But it is a good story, with some clever twists that, despite being nicely foreshadowed, you probably won't have seen coming.

I have mixed feelings about the ending. If this were a play by Shakespeare or Sophocles, Mal and Alina would die and stay dead. But it's a romance in a young adult fantasy series, so 21st-century conventions dictate that they have to get something that looks like a Happily Ever After. A Romeo and Juliet finish was never on the cards. Bardugo creatively merges these two traditions. My take is that the characters we have known throughout the series, Mal and Alina, had a dual nature. Mal the Tracker and Sankta Alina die, but their other sides, Mal and Alina the orphan children, are left surviving and get the Happily Ever After. Bardugo explicitly tells us as much in the case of Mal. That something similar is going on with Alina is my interpretation. But it is not much of a stretch. This merge of conventions is satisfactory.

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