Siege and Storm - Leigh Bardugo (The Grisha trilogy #2) [Review]

Title: Siege and Storm

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction.

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

Publishing date: June 4th 2013

Pages: 435

Rating

★★★☆☆

Previous books in the series:
Shadow and Bone

Hello! I can finally review this book, this is actually the last book I read last year, and I’ll post my review of Ruin and Rising soon. I decided to read the Grisha trilogy first before starting Six of Crows, which I know is a really loved book.

Siege and Storm is the second book in the Grisha trilogy, the story starts immediately where

Nikolai fanart.

the first book ended, Mal and Alina escaped from the Shadow Fold to start a new life, but their dream doesn’t last long, they’re being hunted by the Darkling’s men. The Darkling emerged from the Shadow Fold with a new and terrifying power that dooms everyone. 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.

This is definitely my least favorite book in the trilogy. The beginning is interesting because the Darkling appeared faster than I thought, but then the pace slowed down drastically when the Darkling disappeared again.

There are new characters in this one, one of the most important are Nikolai, Tolya and Tamar. Nikolai is the most important one because he becomes a new love interest for Alina.

With the help of Nikolai, Alina and Mal return to the little palace, where she intends to lead what remains of the second army, and that is a resume of the middle part of the book. The whole middle of the book is about Alina obsessing over getting another amplifier, trying to come up with a plan, and being flirted by Mal and Nikolai. I actually found all that boring because I felt that nothing actually happened, besides unnecessary drama with the love triangle between Alina, Mal and Nikolai.

The Darkling fanart.

As in the previous book, I think that the most interesting parts were the ones where the Darkling appears, he is the most interesting character of the book, mysterious, seductive and the reader can’t help but to feel attracted to him, even if you hate him for everything he does. He is power hungry and kind of crazy.

The pace picks up again on the last pages, where there is a big confrontation. To be honest, I was seriously thinking about no continuing with the trilogy, but these last pages made me change my mind. The finale is engaging and full of action.

Siege and Storm is a decent second book, it has interesting characters, wonderful setting and magic system. It includes some action and love dilemmas, so if you are interested in any of that, you should continue the trilogy if you already read Shadow and Bone.