Title: Siege and Storm
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: Shadow and Bone
Published June 4th 2013 by Henry Holt and Company
Genre: Fantasy, YA, Romance
Pages: 435
“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, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. But 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.” -Goodreads
My Review:
Ahh just look at how beautiful that cover is. It is so gorgeous.
Anyways, so this book was really good. I read it in about a day and a half. I devoured it is what I should really say.
Because I have been behind on my reviews, I am going to keep this a really short.
First LOVE THE DARKLING and I am very ashamed. Second HATE MAL and I am not ashamed. Third Alina is dumb but also I like her. I dont know I have mixed feelings.
Then there is Nikolai. Let me just say that I am a Nikolai fan page now. I only care about Nikolai in this story and Nikolai only.
The pacing of the story is horrendously annoying. Some moments that should last half a page last for three. Some things like big epic moments, that I would accept lasting a chapter, are like a page long. I am pretty sure (SPOILERS FOR THE REST OF THE PARAGRAPH) huge fights between Mal and Alina lasted longer than any fight between the Darkling and when they capture the ice dragon thing.
Improvements form the last book:
- Plot- adding in Nikolai
- Plot-way more thoughts out then the last book. I think most of it seemed like filler and Bardugo could have just added…more. But, way more of an improvement.
- Nikolai
- Realm Building-Ravka became way more in-depth in this book than the last one. I think explanation of conflicting nation wars were better. We saw other places other than the Little Palace. I think there were better descriptions of buildings.
- Character Development-Everyone in this book had growth and changed, unlike the last book. They all had some sort of significant shift in their persona. Mal became a big bag of d*cks. Alina got slightly less stupid and I could relate to her and her pull to the Darkling. The Darkling seemed to start to love. And Nikolai was introduced which made the series better.
- Nikolai
- Getting to see Nikolai
Also, let us talk about how I really thought we were going to get (AHH SPOILERS) that whole anti-hero arc we deserved. The darkness just never took ahold of Alina like I wanted. I mean seriously the ending was like on the precipice of this ultimate twist but nope, she just became a blonde. OOOOO scary!
Anyways, what I am trying to say is yes I liked the book. Could it have been better? YES! But, do I hate it? GOD NO!
It is definitely worth the read. But, like I said, it could have been better. Way better than the first book though!
As always, thanks for reading,
A Bookie
Star Rating: 3.8
