Review: Siege & Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Source: Library
Publisher: Macmillian
Series: The Grisha #2
Edition: Hardcover, 432 Pages
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Purchase:  Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Book Depository*
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Rating: 4/5

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.

Siege and Storm takes what Bardugo started in Shadow and Bone and amps it up! The wide ranging fantasy goes even farther and even has a few surprises in store.

The world we knew in the first book only gets bigger with this one, in fact it’s rare to find Alina and Mal in one place for very long. It’s really cool to see the different regions, how the people there think and just how far the Darkling’s reach goes. It’s also interesting to see how Alina comes to grips with what she needs to do, and how much her mission begins to change who she is. The book is a bit long and as with most fantasy books it can linger in certain areas, but over all the pacing is really good and I kept the pages turning.

I personally like how much Alina is having to reshape herself to her purpose. People see her differently than she sees herself, and when it becomes apparent that what is has and is, is not enough she sees that she has to add on to it and grow. Of course it leads to some interesting darker moments with her but I definitely think that’s one of the pluses. It shows a side of her that she didn’t beliver herself capable of and it also serves to show her that it’s easy to loose your way while trying to do something good. On the downside I’m still not fond of Mal, in fact I like him even less in this one. He’s so distrustful at times, even when he has no reason to be outright rude and I got tired of how hung up he was on the Darkling’s involvement in Alina’s life. It’s definitely the low point in this book for me, which is kind of a shame. Of course now there is the Stormhund, who is pretty freaking amazing and has an interesting variety of skills and roles. He’s not perfect and he can definitely fall prey to try to manipulate situations, but he’s a pretty good guy and even if he doesn’t seem like a likely love triangle option I do like him more than Mal.

Overall this is a fantastic continuation of the series and I’m really excited to see where Bardugo takes us in book three. I have some ideas but with the amount of interesting twists she likes to throw us I suppose anything is possible!