Review of Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Release Date: June 4, 2013

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Page Count: 432

Format: Hardcover

Genre: YA/Fantasy

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.

I first read Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo thanks to the urging of Lauren DeStefano and her talking about how amazing the book was. It was as good as she said it was and I enjoyed it so much that I bought the sequel right away, however I didn't have time to read it and was forced to keep it on my TBR list. After being in a reading and blogging slump for over a week I decided to revisit the trilogy and read Siege & Storm, hoping that it would cure my slump. Now that I've finished I can say that I loved Siege and Storm even more than I did Shadow & Bone and it seems to have cured my slump for now.

The world building and settings were similar in quality to Shadow & Bone with old locations returning and new ones being introduced. We get to see a new country and different parts of Ravka that were only mentioned before or not mentioned at all. Leigh Bardugo continued to amaze me with her vivid writing and storytelling, especially the scene with the dragon in the middle of the ocean. I was completely enamored and felt like I was there with the other characters. The world building definitely aided with the plot and helped advance it, I was intrigued about the Fjerdans and Shu but they weren't explored upon much. Saying that, they did however contribute some important characters to the book that I will talk about later. Basically as I said in my Shadow & Bone review, if you like good use of world building in a book then you should check out Siege & Storm.

Move over Darkling because Sturmhond is my new favorite character in the trilogy, not only is he amusing and funny but he also transformed the book to a higher level in my opinion through his actions. Without Sturmhond I would have lowered the score of Siege & Storm  by at least a full point, that's how much I liked him. On the other hand I started disliking Mal, he kept ruining everything and messing with Alina's emotions, it might be a bit harsh but he should have just left and never come back. Without Mal to worry and trouble her than Alina could have concentrated better and maybe some of the events that happened wouldn't have happened. Some additional new characters were Tolya and Tamar who were Grisha Shu twins that worked for Sturmhond. They help Alina out of multiple bad situations and save her life several times. Throughout Siege & Storm Alina improves and gets better in terms of her Grisha power with the help of a second amplifier but also faces numerous obstacles and gets hurt both physically and emotionally. Mal does not help her in these situations at all and sometimes even makes them worse. In the end Alina seems broken and lost but promises that she will rise and retake Ravka, killing the Darkling.

I finished this book about an hour ago as of the time this review was posted and I'm already eager to pick up where I left off on the next book. I've heard mixed things about Ruin & Rising but I'm sure it'll be as good as the previous books, maybe even more so. Siege & Storm is perfect for people who like fantasy, world building, and an amazing book.

5/5 - Amazing book