Title: Siege & Storm
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: The Shadow & Bone Trilogy, book 2
Age Category: Young Adult
Published by: Henry Holt, June 2020
Pages: 435 p.
Genre: Epic fantasy
About Siege and Storm
Alina Starkov is on the run, but how long can she outrun her enemies? Her power has grown, but it has come with a price. She has become the Sun Summoner and is hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Shadow Fold.
The Darkling is more determined than ever to claim Alina's magic and use it to take the Ravkan throne. With nowhere else to turn, Alina enlists the help of an infamous privateer and sets out to lead the Grisha army.
But as the truth of Alina's destiny unfolds, she slips deeper into the Darkling's deadly game of forbidden magic, and further away from her humanity. To save Ravka, Alina will have to choose between her power and the love she thought would always be her shelter. No victory can come without sacrifice and only she can face the oncoming storm.
My thoughts on Siege and Storm
I should have read the synopsis before I started reading. The first comment I jotted down in my notebook was: "I am on page 17, and already the Darkling caught up with them?" If I just only had read the synopsis, this would have been clear. Anyway, I felt a bit disappointed that they were captured this fast.
The desperation started early on in the book and my struggles with Alina continue because many of the notes I made during reading were about questionable choices, questionable behavior, and the list goes on and on. The thing I hated about the whole series, was that it seemed that Alina does not have any choices in any matters. She just keeps getting into the most impossible situations and seems to be accepting these situations instead of fighting her way out of them.
But Alina was not the only person I was shouting at during reading, the lack of opinion from Mal almost drove me insane, but as it turns out in the end he has his own opinions as well. And I liked it a lot better when he started voicing them.
This book did have one thing going for it, my favorite character of the entire series got introduced! I am talking about Strumhond AKA Nikolai!!! I was a bit bumped to hear that he was the other prince, but it did not matter in the end, he is still my favorite character, he is so damn funny and smart. Aaaah Nikolai, I miss you already, glad I have a whole duology to look forward to.
Rating Siege and Storm
In conclusion, I have figured out what my problem is with the series so far. It is the constantly being saved by someone part that I don't like about Alina. In the first book, she is in the hands of the Darkling where she helplessly watches him expend the fold. In the second book, she gets captured within the first 20 pages of the book by the Darkling, and after a magnificent scheme by Nikolai gets captured by yet another prince. She always remains in someone else's shadow.
In the few cases where she does step out of the shadows, she can do great things and does some good decision-making. However, these moments are so few, that it does not make up for the times she is oppressed.
The second book was a lot better for me, I still have my struggles, but Nikolai makes up for most of those. This is also why I have decided to give this book 4 stars. I only hope that we get to see Nikolai in the next book, as it would be a major disappointment if we missed out on him. One can only hope!
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