[Book Review] Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Darkness never dies.

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her--or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.

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Siege and Storm is the second book in the Grisha Verse trilogy, so there may be spoilers when it comes to the events that happened in the first book, Shadow and Bone. There will not be any spoilers for Siege and Storm, but if you haven't read the first one read with caution. 

 
Reading this series has been really fun so far! I don't think I've been full on loving it the way it seems to be loved by the large amount of fans this series has, but I've definitely been enjoying it. And I totally cannot wait to get my hands on the third book, Ruin and Rising, soon. 

"The less you say, the more weight your words will carry."

My opinions on the characters have evolved between reading the first book and reading this one. With Alina, I mentioned I liked her in some moments and wanted to slap her in others, but honestly I really loved her in Siege and Storm. I enjoyed seeing her conflict between her light and dark sides. I think seeing her be gradually affected by the amplifier's power as the story progresses seemed to make sense, it isn't an overnight change and it isn't a full 180 degrees moment, she's having darker thoughts and I think it feels natural. I do have to say I wish Alina lead the story better as the main character. There are moments where we see her take a stand, push her way through the bullshit she has to deal with, show everyone of what she is made of. But it's paired right after with guilt and she goes back to being a more passive character. I want more strong badass Alina because I think she's been invisible too long. I hope she continues to find her voice in the last book.

We get more of Mal in this book, and honestly I don't hate him the way some seem to. I don't particularly like him either, but I at least understand some of his emotions and motives in this story. He's a serious guy for the most part, especially when it comes to Alina, and he isn't one that is super great at taking a joke. So he has a short temper about some stuff and although I don't think I blame him (at least not all the time) when he gets pissed, it did get to be a bit annoying after a while. I do think that Alina and Mal have good chemistry, but I also think that they are too different of people to be together. They don't communicate at all and it makes it hard to see this relationship working out or being any kind of successful. If it doesn't work out between them, I honestly hope they stay friends because  I enjoy their friendship so much. There is a moment where he's trying to humanize Alina with the people who worship her by telling them stories of his childhood and it's one of my favorite Mal moments.

The Darkling is an interesting character. Maybe it's because we see more of The Darkling's less charming side in this book, but I am really disliking him even more. I didn't love him in book one but I couldn't deny him and Alina had chemistry, but now because they have had time apart the chemistry isn't there as much. Even if it was still super strong, honestly the stuff he says and does is really not okay. I am not sure how I understand anyone pairing them together romantically. I know I haven't read the third one and things can change. I assumed that this would be like a Warner/Juliette thing from the Shatter Me series, but it doesn't seem to be going in that direction. He's just a real dick. I find him fascinating as a character and I am interested to see how the story progresses with him in it but as a romantic subplot I am not here for it personally. 

 "I like to have powerful enemies. Makes me feel important."

Nikolai is a character I've heard about non-stop even way before I picked up this series, everyone seems to absolutely love him. He's absolutely charming and I definitely ended up loving him like everyone else. Honestly, I am not even sure if this is a thing (I assume there are shippers out there who agree, I mean within the cannon of the series) but Alina and Nikolai had a lot of great chemistry. First as friends but I can see it developing into something more, which I honestly wouldn't mind. However, if it doesn't happen, I hope their friendship grows and evolves because it's one of my favorite parts of the series. I just want Alina to be happy. I believe the new books are focused around him. So unless I end up hating the third book, I definitely see myself picking those two books out as they are released. We also get to know a pair of twins, Tolya and Tamar who are incredible and I loved them so much. I enjoyed their friendship with both Nikolai and Alina and I cannot wait to keep reading about them. I definitely need more of them because I don't feel like we got enough.

The plot was...okay for me? I didn't hate it and it kept my interest for the entirety of the book but I also wasn't super hooked at any point either. I was mostly reading for the characters and I found the political subplot to be fine, but a bit predictable which made it somewhat boring. The parts I liked I really liked but the rest fell a bit flat for me in terms of the plot. The characters definitely steal the show when it comes to this series. I do think I was more invested in the plot in the previous book, which may not be a very common opinion now that I have skimmed a few reviews saying the exact opposite. I just found everything more interesting. The only thing that was this book's saving grace for me, other than Alina becoming a stronger character in moments, was Nikolai.

"Anything worth doing always starts as a bad idea."

The writing, at least for me in this book, has good moments and not so great moments. I really love the character development and the dialogue between our characters. They are very well written and feel like real people. I found them to be really fun to read about and I can only imagine it was even more fun to write them. However, I still find the world Leigh Bardugo has created for us to be a bit fuzzy to imagine. I can imagine the magic system and the creatures pretty vividly but if I am trying to think of the imagery of the world, the Little Palace, the Fold, etc my mind can only imagine fuzzy clips instead of a clear image. Everything else in the world is so vibrant and easy for me to imagine, but then the background is blurry for me. Which is a bummer because I think that is the reason I cannot seem to fully immerse myself in the story and I feel a bit distanced from it.

Overall, so far I do recommend the series. I feel like it is hard not to absolutely love some of the characters and I think the magic system is incredibly fun. I may have my issues with the series overall, but I think the amount of fun I experience with these books definitely help make up for any cons I have with the series. If you're looking for a fantasy story I say give this one a try! 

Thanks for reading!