Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
My Rating: ★★★★
Just when Alina and Mal think they escaped The Darkling’s clutches, they discover he’s been hunting them and only a few steps away all along. Now that they’re back in his hands, Alina is miserable and stuck watching Mal from a distance at sea. The Darkling is determined to control her, but Alina has something to say about that. She is not going down without a fight. It’s why it shocks The Darkling when she takes off with the mysterious privateer, Stormhond, and takes his place as the leader of the second army.
I absolutely love this installment. The issue I had with the lack of descriptions in the first novel is thankfully not something that continues. That was probably the most exciting thing because that was the big issue while reading the first novel. This time around, there wasn’t a single moment that left me wondering what just happened or thinking I somehow skipped a paragraph for a hot second.
The world building was absolutely wonderful. It was quite interesting seeing where Alina and Mal went before they found themselves back in Ravka. I could vividly see where they were traveling like I was there. Though I was sad to see Alina floundering and suppressing her powers out of fear of being discovered while on the move, which also affected her health just as it did before she knew she was Grisha.
We have a cast of new characters in addition to getting to know some older characters better. I particularly liked Stormond, Tamar, Tolya. They added a new dynamic to the story in addition to being great characters that I’m excited to see again in the final installment. Without spoiling anything, I feel so bad for Genya. You’ll have to read the story to find out what’s going on, but ugh. I was so excited to see her only to get slapped in the face with the reality of the situation. I feel incredibly bad for her.
The character development was excellent this time around as well. While I’m sad to see Alina become power hungry, she’s aware of what she’s becoming and is both afraid and full of desire. She’s obviously going to become an extremely powerful contender in the next book, but I’m really interested in seeing if the darkness she thinks The Darkling placed inside her blooms or if she’ll be able to stick to what she knows it right. I was disappointed that she was able to become the head of the second army when she doesn’t have the experience, it did make sense given that was the terms she threw down when returning to Ravka since she was already craving power.
The entire ending of the book had me reeling. It went from zero to one-hundred and was so packed with action, revelations, and one hell of a cliffhanger. I’m excited to start the final book in the trilogy soon.
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