The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Bardugo, Leigh. The Grisha Trilogy. Siege and Swords. Macmillan, 2015. Kindle.

Ruin and Rising is the third and final novel in the Shadow and Bone series. The prologue, “Before,” is told in third-person past. A nameless boy and girl, who are obviously Alina and Mal, live underground in the White Cathedral with the Apparat and the members of his religious cult who worship Alina for being the Sun Summoner, even though she lost the ability to user her powers in the previous novels when she fought the Darkling and used her connection with him to access his powers of darkness.

The first chapter is narrated in first-person past with Alina as the narrator. The majority of the novel is told in this manner. Alina spent most of her time isolated and alone, but she was allowed to come out of her rooms to study Morozova’s journals. Morozova was an ancient Grisha who created three amplifiers that magnified Grisha power. Alina had gained the first amplifier, a collar made of the antlers of the white stag, in the first novel. She had gained the second amplifier, a bracelet made from the scales if the ice dragon, in the second novel. Now, Alina wanted to find the firebird and kill it so she could make herself a third amplifier so that her powers would be strong enough to defeat the Darkling. She suspected that the firebird existed near her hometown, but she did not want to tell the Apparat about her suspicions because she did not trust him and felt as if he were simply using her. After many months underground, Alina went to the library and studied the journals. She saw David, who gave her a salve to give to Genya, who had been brutally scarred by the Darkling. When Alina went to the kitchens to see Genya, they opened the salve and found a note from David saying “today.” The Apparat rushed into the kitchen with Alina’s friends and revealed that they had plotted to kidnap her and take her to the surface. Mal lit off an explosion that opened up a hole to the surface through the kitchen stove. Alina summoned light for the first time and used it to force the Apparat to surrender.

Alina and Mal decided to seek out the firebird and Prince Nikolai with ten other Grisha. Before they left, Alina decided to use her connection with the Darkling. She could still summon shadows to work a bit, and she could also transport her mind through space to visit the Darkling just as he had done to her in the previous novel. The Darkling asked her to join him on the throne as the queen, but she refused. Alina and her friends left and travelled through a series of underground tunnels before finally arriving at the surface near a city called Ryevost. Tamar and Tolya knew of a meeting place where Nikolai had met with his smugglers when he was a pirate, so Tamar went to the marketplace alone to see if she could find anyone. However, she did not find any of Nikolai’s associates at the market. They prepared to depart to fine the firebird, but they were captured by a group of soldiers. Nikolai appeared and rescued them all, then flew them on his plane, the Pelican, to an abandoned monastery in the mountains where he had made base. Alina was excited to see everyone, but then the King realized that Genya was his former servant who had poisoned him. He demanded that she be executed. Genya said she would take her punishment if the King was also punished for raping her. Nikolai decided to send his parents away to the Southern Colonies and promised Genya she would stand trial after they defeated the Darkling. Alina realized her friend Sergei was traumatized after having lost his girlfriend, so she made arrangements to send him away from the war.

Alina and Nikolai decided to go to West Ravka to make allies while Mal took a team to find the firebird. Alina visited the Darkling again. He told her that David had left him instructions for how to cross the Fold without Alina’s powers, so he was going to enter the Fold and destroy West Ravka. Alina told Nikolai about what she had learned, and then went to visit the Darkling’s mother, Baghra. Baghra confessed that she was the daughter of Morozova, who was the most talented Grisha of his time. He created two amplifiers and then he had two daughters. Baghra was his first, and the second one appeared to be human. The two girls always fought. One day. Baghra got angry at her sister and used the Cut on her. As their mother cried, the villagers arrived. Morozova brought his second daughter back to life. The villagers chained them both up and threw them in the river. Baghra believed that they had both survived, however, because Morozova could have easily escaped his chains. Alina theorized that she might be the descendant of Baghra’s sister.

The next morning, Alina and her friends woke up and prepared for their missions. The Darkling arrived and attacked them. He used darkness to turn Nikolai into a monster. Alina and a few of her friends escaped and went searching for the firebird in Dva Stolba. Alina and Mal found the firebird, but then they realized that Mal was the third amplifier, not the firebird. Mal was the descendant of Baghra’s sister. Alina was horrified to learn she needed to kill Mal to save the world, and hoped she would not have to do it. She and her friends made another plan to attack the Darkling as he was crossing the Fold. However, the Darkling captured Alina and began to kill all her friends. She escaped and found Mal, who demanded that she stab him. She did, but her powers disappeared. Suddenly, all the humans nearby began to shoot light out of their bodies. Alina stabbed the Darkling with a knife covered in Mal’s blood. Tamar and Tolya brought Mal back to life as all the new sun summoners destroyed the Fold. Nikolai returned to his old self and took back the crown. Alina and Mal pretended to have died and went back to their hometown where they got married and created an orphanage together.