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Review:

“We are alike, as no one else is, as no one else will ever be. I’ve seen what you truly are, and I’ve never turned away. I never will. Can he say the same?”

– The Darkling

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Siege and Storm was good, but not as good as the first installment in this trilogy, Shadow and Bone. The pacing was either too fast or too slow, and it never seemed to find that happy middle, despite all the action. While it did succeed in embedding its hooks deeper and dragging me further into the Grishaverse (thanks to the addition of new locations and characters), it also left me disliking a few of the characters a lot more than I anticipated after the conclusion of book one. This book has amazing worldbuilding and locational descriptions, as well as the vastly different designs of differing character races, but even with all its pros, the cons were just as prevalent.

For those looking to avoid spoilers, here’s the TLDR:

Siege and Storm is an okay book, with okay pacing. The first five or so chapters and the last five or so chapters were honestly the best parts about this regarding plot or action. Nikolai and The Darkling HEAVILY carry the plot. As for Mal, he can go get lost in the woods for all I care, and Alina needs to make up her damn mind! I have my opinion on which she should choose between light and dark, but my preference is probably not the direction it’ll take in the third book.

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Now, onto the DETAILED review. HUGE spoilers past this point.

You’ve been warned.

Pros/Likes:

The Darkling.
1000% would burn the world down with him. How could you not after his quotes??? The more we learn about his backstory, the more drawn to his character I become, just as Alina is through his ever-present themes of “like calls to like.” I’m looking forward to learning more about him, and how his powers of controlling shadows work in more detail. This upgrade in his skillset is much cooler than what he was able to do in the first book.

“I know the truth in your heart. The loneliness. The growing knowledge of your own difference. The ache of it.”

– The Darkling

Nikolai.
If I were Alina, I’d be Queen of Ravika before his shitty brother even blinked and finished talking about his beloved horses. Hands down, no questions asked. I loved every scene where Nikolai was present. His personality was funny and lively, and he always knew the right thing to say in certain situations, making him all the more likable. He cares about his people and his country and will go above and beyond to protect them from the darkness…even inventing flying machines (SUCH a cool scene, by the way.) The advice he gives to Alina on ruling and being in charge is advice she references in her own head throughout the entire novel, and I can’t help but talk about how cool it is to have a character resonate with the words of another.

“Do you ever answer a question directly?”
“Hard to say. Ah, there, I’ve done it again.”

– Alina and Nikolai

Nikolai and the Darkling seem to be the perfect balance between each other, the yin and yang of angsty edge and witty banter, and yet I cannot believe Alina didn’t choose either of them during their story development and relationship building. Each of the scenes when The Darkling visits her through their connected powers, or Nikoli asks to kiss her, were leagues better than anything involving Mal, which brings me to Dislikes.

Cons/Dislikes:

Mal.
Call me crazy, but after the end of the first book when he’s basically apologizing for not seeing Alina as a love interest/ important person to him and then madly falling for her and wanting her as if he’s always yearned for her is a complete character 180. Not to mention it took nearly the entire book for him to talk about his feelings in any meaningful way. Mal is a whiny jerk who pouts and puts others in danger when he doesn’t get what he wants, and what he wants is for Alina to not have powers. Like??? What??? She didn’t choose for this to happen, her entire life has been trying to be around you and protect you and this is how you treat her?

He’s incredibly boring, predictable, and selfish and throws a 400-page-long pity party for himself when other characters in this series treat Alina with the respect she deserves. I know he was described as handsome and stunning (as we are repeatedly reminded by Alina’s thoughts) and having all different kinds of women fall for him (cough cough Zoya, who he then kisses in front of Alina for whatever reason???) but none of that mattered. I couldn’t help but picture him as a blank canvas in each scene because his character felt so flat and unimportant, consistently making me ask what the hell Alina saw in him. His one driving personality trait seemed to be making others feel bad for him, or even just wanting to lay down and die if Alina looked or spoke to another man.

ALSO. He was dishonorably discharged instead of being EXECUTED and he’s still going to bitch and moan? Get over yourself, dude.

Alina and her drive.
I started to dislike Alina in this book as well. Her thoughts and drives were just…not satisfying. She was obnoxiously obsessed with Mal’s opinion of her, yet with every chance she got she did nothing to change or talk about it. Her character felt as if she was there simply because she was the Sun Summoner and for Mal to have something to be mad about. The relationships she has romantically have no real importance for the plot other than setting up hatred between characters, but I think it’s very cliché to have not one, not two, but three men thirsting after the same girl. The only parts I really liked with her internal dialogue were when she leaned into the powers and the hunger for more. Cracking the ceiling? *AWESOME.*

Embracing the darkness (figuratively and literally) was probably the best turning point of her character arch thus far. I only wish there was more of it.

Let’s hope the third book is better than this one!!