Ruin and Rising

Alina is such an aggravating MC. She's so passive and basically only moves thru the book largely to things just happening to her rather than her own choices and making up her own opinions. In fact, she continually falls back on whatever few opinions she forms. She's incredibly unlikable for most of the book and just meh for the rest.

I'm going to go into some light spoilers so if you want to read past this point, you've been warned.

The love rhombus or whatever you would call it is messy and there's only one real winner (Nikolai). Mal is just boring and I continued to wonder why he was even around for most of the book until it was revealed why in the climax. And the Darkling is that brooding character who really has nothing going for him other than that he is “hot” in the Hot Topic sense of the word. If you're going to make a character not age physically but stay conveniently looking like they're in their late teens, early 20s, but not make them compelling or likable, all I can think of is that if they had aged, no one would want them.

The best characters are the side characters (Zoya, Genya, David, etc.) and I maintain the book would solve half of its problems if it wasn't in Alina's head but from the POVs of those around her wondering if she's really a saint/going insane/what's the point of it all.

There's also some incredible leaps of thought and self-awareness in Alina that doesn't make sense or makes me lose all empathy for her. Especially when she's like “I'm turning into a monster” but then does a horrible thing any way.

Bardugo definitely came more into her own in her characters in her duology Six of Crows and I am happy I started with that series than this one. The fact that she's only gotten better and seems to have fixed large problems (don't be solely in someone's head; making characters more likable; etc.). I wouldn't recommend this series at all unless you're a completionist or wanted to see an author's origins. I don't think you would lose anything from reading it, but it's definitely not a favorite. (The fact that it took me a full month to finish should tell you something.)