REVIEW; Siege and Storm
7:22 pm
WARNING: Spoilers!
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo is the second instalment of her Grisha Trilogy. I delayed reading this book for a few days because I was not completely satisfied with the first book, but to my surprise and delight, was taken on the adventure I was searching for.
This book began where the last left off. Alina and Mal just escaped the Darkling and are on the run, he finds them rather quickly and he demonstrates his new power: the ability to create shadow-monsters which are dubbed nichevo'ya. Then they are stowed away on a ship and we get to my favourite introduction to this series - Pirates. I love pirates, their ruthlessness and untrustworthiness makes them such interesting and unique characters. This is where I started to really become drawn into the story, especially with the appearance of Sturmhond/Nikolai.
Nikolai. He’s definitely my favourite character of this series so far. He’s such an interesting person, being raised in the court made him cunning and manipulative, and you can see that through the way he acts around the countrymen/civilians as they make their way to Os Alta, and even in the court and around Alina and Mal. You don’t know if he’s being honest or deceiving and its such a cool trait for a character to have, especially because you question his loyalty. Yet as much as he is cunning, he’s equally intelligent, strong, lethal, and annoying (but charming) which is unlike most princes in novels. It’s a good mix, and I found myself not missing the Darkling as much as I had expected (considering he was barely in the book besides his threat of return, and stalking Alina…) because of him.
The beginning of the book seemed to get to the point with haste. I feel as though the killing of the Sea creature was very fast, not a lot of time was spent leading up to it. I’m not saying I didn't like it the way it was done, but it surprised me that they found it and killed it so early in the novel. The middle of the book was quite slow, I must admit. The only thing keeping it afloat was the tension between Mal and Alina, but it was barely floating because I’m not a fan of their ‘love’ . Mal, to my dismay, began to get on my nerves. I don’t believe he should have stayed with Alina on the journey, that was his mistake, and he began to pin that mistake on her. I still really like his character though, just not his choices. Bardugo isn’t making me believe that he loves Alina in the way his dialogue swears he does, I’m not sure what it is, exactly, but something about the way he acts around her doesn’t prove it to me. *shrugs*
The biggest highlight for me, other than the introduction of Nikolai, was Alina. Her character development from the first novel was beautiful, really, I adore what she is becoming, her uncertainty towards her future, Ravka’s future, and the Saint the peasants are dubbing her are all demonstrated well by Bardugo through both her inner dialogue, actions and body language. It made me connect with her and care for her a large amount more than the first novel - especially when she punched Sturmhond in the face, that’s when I really started to like what she was becoming.
The writing was smooth, more descriptive and the world began to piece together in the way it should have in Shadow and Bone. The Darkling’s return in the last parts of the book really did it for me, drawing my 3 stars to a solid 4. The tension, the action, the deaths and his brutality completely drew me in and I found myself wanting more, yet dreading what I might read. Finally I was 100% committed and owned by this book. It was what I was after. But it was at the novels end, thus short lived. Hopefully the next book will continue along the same lines, with the pace and intensity that Siege and Storm ended with.
★★★★☆ - (4 Stars)
Love, Natalia
xx
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo is the second instalment of her Grisha Trilogy. I delayed reading this book for a few days because I was not completely satisfied with the first book, but to my surprise and delight, was taken on the adventure I was searching for.
This book began where the last left off. Alina and Mal just escaped the Darkling and are on the run, he finds them rather quickly and he demonstrates his new power: the ability to create shadow-monsters which are dubbed nichevo'ya. Then they are stowed away on a ship and we get to my favourite introduction to this series - Pirates. I love pirates, their ruthlessness and untrustworthiness makes them such interesting and unique characters. This is where I started to really become drawn into the story, especially with the appearance of Sturmhond/Nikolai.
Nikolai. He’s definitely my favourite character of this series so far. He’s such an interesting person, being raised in the court made him cunning and manipulative, and you can see that through the way he acts around the countrymen/civilians as they make their way to Os Alta, and even in the court and around Alina and Mal. You don’t know if he’s being honest or deceiving and its such a cool trait for a character to have, especially because you question his loyalty. Yet as much as he is cunning, he’s equally intelligent, strong, lethal, and annoying (but charming) which is unlike most princes in novels. It’s a good mix, and I found myself not missing the Darkling as much as I had expected (considering he was barely in the book besides his threat of return, and stalking Alina…) because of him.
The beginning of the book seemed to get to the point with haste. I feel as though the killing of the Sea creature was very fast, not a lot of time was spent leading up to it. I’m not saying I didn't like it the way it was done, but it surprised me that they found it and killed it so early in the novel. The middle of the book was quite slow, I must admit. The only thing keeping it afloat was the tension between Mal and Alina, but it was barely floating because I’m not a fan of their ‘love’ . Mal, to my dismay, began to get on my nerves. I don’t believe he should have stayed with Alina on the journey, that was his mistake, and he began to pin that mistake on her. I still really like his character though, just not his choices. Bardugo isn’t making me believe that he loves Alina in the way his dialogue swears he does, I’m not sure what it is, exactly, but something about the way he acts around her doesn’t prove it to me. *shrugs*
The biggest highlight for me, other than the introduction of Nikolai, was Alina. Her character development from the first novel was beautiful, really, I adore what she is becoming, her uncertainty towards her future, Ravka’s future, and the Saint the peasants are dubbing her are all demonstrated well by Bardugo through both her inner dialogue, actions and body language. It made me connect with her and care for her a large amount more than the first novel - especially when she punched Sturmhond in the face, that’s when I really started to like what she was becoming.
The writing was smooth, more descriptive and the world began to piece together in the way it should have in Shadow and Bone. The Darkling’s return in the last parts of the book really did it for me, drawing my 3 stars to a solid 4. The tension, the action, the deaths and his brutality completely drew me in and I found myself wanting more, yet dreading what I might read. Finally I was 100% committed and owned by this book. It was what I was after. But it was at the novels end, thus short lived. Hopefully the next book will continue along the same lines, with the pace and intensity that Siege and Storm ended with.
★★★★☆ - (4 Stars)
Love, Natalia
xx
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