Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo | Rating: ★★★★★

I hope you weren't looking to me to be the voice of reason. I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret.

Admittedly, Ruin and Rising started off a bit slower than the previous installments in the trilogy. Bardugo doesn't let the pace slack for long though and once it really kicks into gear? BOOM. I'm blown away once more. Ruin and Rising is that perfect combination of romance, action, darkness and fantasy. It is everything I wanted from the conclusion and then some.

While my favourite in the series remains to be the second book, it's still a fantastic novel and positively brilliant. I know that a lot of people weren't altogether keen on the endgames in this novel but I loved that Leigh Bardugo took a path a little less unknown when it comes to, ah, unhealthy relationships in YA literature. You know who I'm talking about--I've been pretty vocal about my general dislike of one relationship and love of another.

I was pretty surprised that the novel went the way I wanted it to. As always, Alina is fantastic and just what I want from my main characters.

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo | Rating: ★★★★★

When people say impossible, they usually mean improbable.

It's not a shock to me that I devoured Siege and Storm almost as quickly as Shadow and Bone. If the first book in the trilogy captivated me, I would say the second engulfed me in a sea of emotions. All too easily the second installment of a series can become mundane in comparison to the first but in the case of Siege and Storm, it was even better than the first book and this is entirely due to Bardugo's unique prose and compelling, fantastical weaving of stories.

There's something about the way she builds characters and worlds and power. It's all about the balance of many things but still managing to keep his readers on their toes. Bardugo manages to explore many traits that make the genre of fantasy so intriguing, whilst still sprinkling in other plot points. There's magic, intelligence, action, thrills and romance--all of it blends together effortlessly and in one of the most delicious of ways. I loved the way the story unfolds and how much Alina has changed from the first book right up to the end of the second. Siege and Storm would be nothing without change. Because, trust me, there are a lot of changes in this book.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo | Rating: ★★★★★

They are orphans again, with no true home but each other and whatever life they can make together on the other side of the sea.

OH MY GOD, you guys. This book. I'm completely in a pile of emotions over here. I read it in one sitting, after just procrastinating picking it up for a while--much like I did with Throne of Glass. Except, in this case, I cannot fathom why it took me so long to get up off my arse and read it. Shadow and Bone was nothing like I expected but everything I desired when it comes to YA literature. I was emotional. I was cheerful. I was angsty. I swooned often. The world building was incredible. Leigh Bardugo really created something special with this one and based on all of your insistence that it only gets better from here on out, I am so beyond hyped to give the rest of the series a go.

There's something about the world in Shadow and Bone that is so compelling and dark; woven tightly in fantastical elements and intrigue. It lays somewhere between fantasy genres and keeps its pace up wonderfully. I genuinely had such a fun time reading this book that one minute, it was 9AM and the next it was early afternoon. I didn't move at all. See, Bardugo has a prose that is dark and mysterious and at its core, what fantasy needs to be to keep things fresh. Something about it blends entertainment into fantasy, which blends fantasy into romance, and romance into something obtainable. Even in all its magic, you can't help but to feel as though it's bordering on real life and fiction. I can't explain it other than that, but there was something striking about it--it makes you root for the characters even against your better judgment.