STG's

 Ruin and Rising, by Leigh Bardugo, is the finale of the Shadow and Bone trilogy. After the disaster at the end of the last book, Alina is recovering underground, without powers. For a while, at least... This one had a nice set of battles, and what I specially liked were the twists, specially on the third amplifier and what happened when she got it. Overall, very good. I wouldn't say that was my favorite book series ever, but it was very nice.

 Siege and Storm, by Leigh Bardugo, is the second book in the Shadow and Bone trilogy.  So, the main characters (Alina and Mal) escaped at the end of last book. They are almost immediately captured. Then they meet the pirates (sorry, privateers), which lead to another series of adventures and another confrontation with the Darkling, of course. Overall, I like the series so far. I liked this one more than the last, but mostly because it actually advanced the story, given I started by seeing the Netflix show's first season. There is way too much teen romantic drama, though.

 I read Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo because of the Netflix series, which I watched and liked. It is pretty much the same in most aspects - as usual, some of the explanations made more sense in the book. It does not include the whole Crow crew, which I understand they pulled from another book series - Six of Crows. As a vague summary, in this universe there are people that are born with various powers. In the book it sounds like they could be trained for specific powers, instead of just being fixed - darkness, telekinesis, fires, light, etc. The main character (Alina Sarkov) is the first since times of legend with light powers, and is expected to destroy a big barrier in the middle of the fictional country (Ravka), which is tearing it apart (and killing many that try to pass it). There is also a boy she grew up with that she really is close. There is a nice twist on what is happening near the end, and it ends well enough but unresolved (just like the series, but diff...