Yesterday we posted our review for Shadow and Bone, so today it’s time for our review of the sequel, Siege and Storm! We both really enjoyed the first book, so we were excited to start on the next one. Let’s talk about what we thought of Siege and Storm!
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.
“Weakness is a guise. Wear it when they need to know you’re human, but never when you feel it.”
Cover
Candyce Once again, I really enjoy the cover for Siege and Storm. It’s one that really catches your attention, but I still really love the newest covers that Isabelle owns.
Isabelle I love both the old and the new covers for this book. The details on the covers are gorgeous and clever and I’m so happy I finally got to add these to my collection.
Plot
Candyce A lot of reviews that I’ve read complain about this book being slow, but I have no clue where they get that from. Siege and Storm is filled with action from the start. That was a really pleasant suprise. When it started off, I really thought we’d see Alina and Mal working and taking their time to start the newest journey, but before I knew it they were off on an adventure!
I loved that the Sturmhound showed up and took them to start a new adventure. A lot happens in the first part of the book. Alina is still trying to figure out her powers, now that she’s gotten the second amplifier. I do wish we would’ve learned a bit more about them and their history. I feel that this would’ve made the story a bit more complete.
In the middle of the book, it’s a lot of politics and planning on where to go from here. A lot of people find this stuff boring, but I loved seeing how their plans for trying to get The Darkling were really interesting. I feel like I can understand the story more when I have more insight in the thoughts behind the plans. Leigh Bardugo did this very well.
The ending of Siege and Storm really shocked me. There were a lot of twists and turns I didn’t expect. Near the end, I just couldn’t put my book down! The ending left me shocked and very happy I read these when all books were published! This all sounds a bit vague, but I don’t want to give too much away for the people who haven’t read it yet!
“I can’t decide if you’re crazy or stupid.”
“I have so many good qualities,” Sturmhond said. “It can be hard to choose.”
Isabelle This was a reread for me but once again I had forgotten so much details! Basically all I remembered was the beginning and the end, and I thought the events of the last chapter happened in the last book so my memory definitely failed me haha. Siege and Storm starts of with a ton of action and I flew through it. I loved seeing some of my favorite characters again and highly enjoyed this reread.
In the beginning of the story we get to see a little bit of Ravka, which was quite interesting. Most of the first book was set at the Little Palace and I liked the expanse of the world we got. I think Leigh Bardugo created a truly wonderful universe with the Grisha and I like to know as much about it as possible. The country of Ravka is based on Russia and I love the little Russian sayings or words that are used. We get a little glimpse of Kerch which is based on Holland and we get a couple of Dutch words there as well. Unfortunately those weren’t really recognizable, but I know that’s done a lot better in Six of Crows. Hopefully those Russian words are correct, but I simply don’t know that haha.
After awhile we are back at the Little Palace and I really enjoyed reading about that place again. Like Candyce said, we’ve got quite some planning and politics in that part of the story, but I always enjoy reading about those in fantasy settings so I’m not complaining at all. And with some of the new wonderful characters I couldn’t care less what they were doing as long as I was reading about them haha.
The ending is once again super fast-paced and has some heart stopping twists. Even though I read this all before, I only remembered what happened right before it happened or sometimes not even until it actually happened haha. With those twists and that ending you want to dive into Ruin and Rising right away and that is exactly what we did!
“I like to have powerful enemies. Makes me feel important.”
Characters
Candyce Siege and Storm brings us a lot of new characters! Ones that I’ve really come to love. Before I get into those though, I want to talk about the ones we already know. Alina is a character who really grows in Siege and Storm. While I don’t always understand her decisions or how she goes about certain things, I can’t imagine the weight on her shoulders now that everyone sees her as a Saint. Alina becomes very strong though and holds her own in the Little Palace and during meetings about politics. I’m curious to see how she handles everything after the ending of this book!
If I’m honest, Mal is a character I still don’t quite understand. We still really don’t learn a lot about him. Yeah, he can track the amplifers and it’s clear he has feelings for Alina. His character just stays kind of shallow for me. I would’ve liked just a little bit more background information. I think that’s why I never got the romance between him and Alina. That’s something that drags along for me.
Nikolai is a new character and he immediately became my favorite. He’s arrogant and sassy and thinks he’ll get everything he wants. Nikolai takes great risks, but also seems to just land on his feet, haha. My only complaint has to be that we didn’t get enough of him in this story! I really hope to see more of him in Ruin and Rising!
The Darkling is character that isn’t a major part of the book in a sense that he’s always there. He’s on all the characters’ minds though, because that is who they’re looking to beat. I guess The Darkling is character who you love to hate? I’m still not sure where I stand when it comes to him.
There were also a lot of other characters that were introduced. Out of all of them, the twins Toyla and Tamar were my favorite. They’re just so much fun! I think they need to keep being a big part of this trilogy.
“When people say impossible, they usually mean improbable.”
Isabelle So many wonderful characters in this one! Especially some amazing new characters <3 Alina has gone through quite the development when you compare her to the start of Shadow and Bone and I enjoyed reading about her struggling coming to terms with all of her self. Her powers have only grown and a lot of people look to her to fix everything. Luckily she gets a lot of help.
While I started to like Mal better in Shadow and Bone, in Siege and Storm he reminded me why he annoyed me so much again. Basically all I like about Mal are his tracking skills. He is pretty awful towards Alina and so jealous. But I probably really don’t like him because he’s a little bit mean towards Nikolai sometimes and I can’t stand for anyone not loving him 😉
And that brings us to Nikolai, aka my personal fave. The moment he was introduced I became Team Nikolai and stopped acknowledging any other team haha. He is so clever, so funny and sassy and just all around wonderful. Nikolai truly cares about all the citizens of Ravka and you simply can’t help but root for him. I just need to read more about him <3
We also get to meet Sturmhond and his crew in this installment. I really enjoyed reading about all of them but like Candyce, the twins Tolya and Tamar were my favorite. Shamefully, I have to admit I had forgotten about them but I really enjoyed getting to know them again. We also get to see a couple of characters from Shadow and Bone at the Little Palace and I think they were developed a little better this time around which was very enjoyable.
“The less you say, the more weight your words will carry.”
Trigger warning: Siege and Storm also has another pretty intense animal death/killing. We thought it was really intense, so we wanted to give a heads up!
This ending both left us wanting more! So of course, we started Ruin and Rising the day after finishing this. Tomorrow our review for Ruin and Rising will be posted! Have you read this trilogy yet? What did you think?
