Title: Siege & StormAuthor: Leigh BarudgoEdition: hardcoverSeries: The Grisha #2Released Date: June 4th, 2013Publisher: Henry Holt & Co
Goodreads / Amazon 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.
Last summer, I fell in love with the novel Shadow & Bone. Late that summer, I got to talk with Leigh Bardugo about her book and she shared other information about the young adult world. For heaven's sake, I looked all around Chicago for a copy of Shadow & Bone to get signed.
In Shadow & Bone, I fell in love with the characters that were developed, but mostly the setting. I was never one for high fantasy until I read this book. Everything about it, I loved. [review]
When it comes to Siege & Storm, I fell in love all over again. I fell for Mal, even though I was reluctant in the first novel. I was flooded by hate for the Darkling, but at other times yearned for him. I was introduced to Nikolai, who was hilarious yet passionate.
Once again, I fell in love with the setting. The world of Ravka was enchanting, and we learned a lot more about the outlying areas.
Alina got stronger throughout this book, and once again she shone. With her new power over the Second Army, Alina had to act strong and fierce - even though she sometimes wanted to leave everything behind. She was strong throughout this book and I applaud her for it. I don't know if I could do what she was doing.
In addition to Alina, there's Mal and the Darkling. Mal is just trying to live his life with Alina and even accepted the position as her main guard. This was a big leap for Mal, who doesn't even want to be there in the first place. I continued to fall in love with him throughout the book, until about the last 100 chapters. There are times where he is just a jerk, and sometimes selfish. I mean, he has a right to be upset, but he does certain things just because he knows they will piss off Alina. Then there's Darkling. He isn't apparent throughout the whole novel, even though you know he is always lurking somewhere. He's preparing to capture Alina, for like the billionth time. His little scene at the end of the book was surprising though!
There were a bunch of new faces in this one, and there were old faces that we got to learn more about. First, there's Stormhund/Nikolia. He was quite the mystery - but I loved him! I was silently rooting for Nikolia & Alina to get together. They'd be quite good. Then there's the twins- Tamar and Tolya. They joined the guard along with Mal to protect Alina. I liked learning about them, and they were the most protective characters in the novel. Then you learn more about the people that were showed in the first book: Zoya, who shows her reasons for what she does; David, and his intelligence and passions; and Greya, who actually isn't in very much, but you learn more about her.
I highly suggest that you read Shadow & Bone if you haven't yet. If you have, but haven't picked up Siege & Storm - GET ON IT. Siege & Storm was such a riveting novel, and even though there were over 400 pages, I still hated that it ended! You won't be let down by anything written by Leigh Bardugo - that's for sure!
