Ruin and Rising

Ruin and Rising begins with Alina Starkov, the series protagonist and narrator, living in an underground city accessed by tunnels beneath her homeland of Ravka. Alina is a powerful Grisha (magician) who can summon light from the sun and stars and use it as a weapon. She is a counterpart to the Darkling, her nemesis who can summon and control darkness. Aided by shadow soldiers he has created, the Darkling has claimed the throne of Ravka, usurping the former king and queen. Alina wants to defeat the Darkling but is weakened underground by her distance from the sun and by the aftereffects of a battle with the Darkling at the end of the previous book in the series, Siege and Storm. The underground city is under the Apparat’s control, a religious leader who once served Ravka’s king and who now wants to enthrone Alina. Alina suspects that he would try and make her his puppet, and she distrusts him. Despite the inability to use her powers, Alina and the Darkling have a psychic connection that either of them can initiate due to the melding of their powers during their last battle…