Choose one of the female characters who fights in a physical way over the course of the book, either with magic or weapons (i.e., Zoya, Nadia, Tamar). Contrast the portrayal with that of a male character who fights in a similar way. What differences are there? What similarities? What does Bardugo seem to be saying about gender and aggression/violence?

Compare Ruin and Rising with historical events in Russia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. What similarities are there? What differences? Why might Bardugo have chosen not to follow historical events and characters in some ways?

Discuss Bardugo’s use of the various landscapes and settings in the novel (for example, the White Cathedral, Dva Stolba, the Spinning Wheel, the Fold, and/or Tomikyana). Choose one or two locations and analyze why Bardugo might have set different parts of the narrative there. (Use direct quotes from the text to support your thinking.)