Siege and Storm (Grisha #2) Spoiler Free Review

★★★★

Spoilers for the first in the Grisha Trilogy.

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company.

Release Date: 4th June 2013.

Pages: 435.

Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy.

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository.

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. – Goodreads.

I said I had hoped that the second book of this trilogy was better, which was a little risky because of its middle-book status, but for me it was so much better! I’ve seen this on some other blogs and I’m just trying out different structures so I’m going to do good and bad points instead of just text.

√. It was much more exciting than the first book. Where the first book was bogged down a little with explaining everything and Alina’s time training up, this one was much punchier for me and made it much quicker to read.

√. Alina as a character was improved so much. In Shadow and Bone, I found her slightly annoying and flat as a character but I could see that she had matured after the events of the first book, and that she is also still recovering from it. Aline did a lot in this book that made me respect her more, especially how she coped with the new politics after the departure of the Darkling.

√. I’m usually wary of new characters being introduced in a second book because they can sometimes feel like they’ve just been dropped in for the sake of it but I didn’t find that at all. In fact, I found a new favourite character in Nikolei. He was sharp and sassy but his responsibility made him a more 3D character that I really, really liked.

√. The writing was just the same as it was in Shadow and Bone. I think Leigh Bardugo has a great writing style and I really connect with it.

√. I enjoyed Mal and Alina’s relationship and how it played out with the changing of Alina’s role within the Grisha world.

There really wasn’t a great deal that I didn’t enjoy, I just think that it didn’t have the wow that I need for a 5 star read. I would still definitely recommend and though I’m taking a short break before reading the last book to get to a few other novels, I’m looking forward to Ruin and Rising!

Thanks for reading,

Have a great day,

Abby.