Ruin and Rising

Alina and her companions weather several more explosions that make part of the tunnel they’re in collapse, separating them into three groups. After reuniting and making sure that no one is seriously hurt, they determine that the explosions were just random ones that the Darkling has been using on the tunnel system to try and force Alina to come to the surface. Shaken but unharmed, the companions reach the surface and sneak out of the town they find themselves in. They want to try and get to a city called Ryevost, where their friend and ally Nikolai Lantsov is rumored to be staying, using one of his old disguises as a smuggler. They make their way across the countryside to the outskirts of Ryevost. They’re trying to avoid discovery, since the Darkling has put a bounty on Alina and her allies.

The group makes a camp outside Ryevost and send Tamar into the city to try and contact Nikolai. Tamar returns and reports that she didn’t see Nikolai, but that Ravka’s western neighbor—known as West Ravka—which lies on the other side of the permanent darkness known as “the Fold,” has declared its loyalty to Nikolai and not the Darkling. Encouraged by this news, Alina leaves the rest of her companions to go tell Mal, who is at a nearby creek filling water containers. Alina tells Mal the news, but she notices a tattoo on the shirtless Mal’s back. The tattoo is a giant sun, which is Alina’s symbol, and the phrase “I am become a blade” (113). Alina touches the tattoo and begins stroking Mal’s bare back, which increases the sexual tension between the two. They’re interrupted by soldiers who have deserted Ravka’s First Army (the non-magical division of the military). The soldiers capture the pair to get the Darkling’s bounty. As the soldiers take Alina and Mal back to their friends, who have are also captives, a hidden Nikolai taunts and begins shooting at the kidnappers.

Nikolai rescues Alina, Mal, and their companions and takes them to an airship he has hidden in a nearby field. Mal and several Grisha kill the kidnappers who pursue them, and Alina uses her magic to kill a man, which makes her loathe herself. The group travels to a hidden fortress in the mountains of Ravka’s northern neighbor, Fjerda, which serves as a safe haven for Nikolai and his allies. The fortress is known as the Spinning Wheel. Nikolai evacuated his parents (the rightful King and Queen of Ravka) and Alina’s mentor Baghra (the Darkling’s mother) to the fortress, and when she arrives, Alina goes to visit Baghra.

Baghra talks to Alina about the third amplifier, and Alina tells her mentor that during her last battle with the Darkling in the previous book, she created beings of darkness, just as the Darkling is able to do. Alina aspires to create soldiers of light with her newfound power, which could fight the Darkling’s forces. Baghra is in the midst of chastising Alina for overstepping the traditional bounds of Grisha magic when Mal appears to tell Alina that she needs to come defend her friend, Genya. In the previous books of the series, Genya was loyal to the Darkling and poisoned Ravka’s King, Nikolai’s father. However, the Darkling mutilated her, and she has returned to Alina as a loyal friend. Now, the King has discovered that Genya is at the Spinning Wheel, infuriating him.

While Mal is in Baghra’s presence, Baghra tries to tell Alina something about him, but Mal and Alina cut the older woman off to go advocate for Genya. Nikolai sternly questions his father, Genya, and Alina about the charges against Genya. It turns out that the King repeatedly raped Genya when she was a servant in the Little Palace—the King and Queen’s original fortress. When the Darkling asked her to poison the King, Genya saw it as a way to retaliate. Nikolai is horrified by what his father has done and orders him to abdicate. Nikolai promises to convict Genya of the poisoning when the war is over, but Alina thinks he will be lenient with her friend.

Alina shares another moment of barely restrained passion with Mal on the first night in the Spinning Wheel when he admits his desire for her but urges her to tell him to get out of her room, still feeling that he is unworthy of Alina. She does so reluctantly.

The next morning, Alina releases the traumatized Grisha who betrayed Genya from her service, having Nikolai find him a less dangerous position. Baghra resumes her training with Alina, forcing her to use her magic to slice the top of a huge mountain peak near the fortress. A crowd of spectators watches Alina, who is amazed and exhilarated by this new height of her power.