Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #2) in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jul 07, 2021 Andrea rated it liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It feels weird to give this book only three stars, because I feel like a 3-star Leigh Bardugo book is still better than a 5-star book from a lot of other people. Usually my 3-star rating means “I liked it fine, but I won’t re-read it and maybe I didn’t actually like it that much but I didn’t hate it so I won’t rate it two stars…I DON’T KNOW DAMMIT GOODREADS WHY AREN’T HALF STARS A THING?!?!?!”

Anyway…what was my point? Oh, right! This book is a 3-star book on an exclusive star scale I’ve created It feels weird to give this book only three stars, because I feel like a 3-star Leigh Bardugo book is still better than a 5-star book from a lot of other people. Usually my 3-star rating means “I liked it fine, but I won’t re-read it and maybe I didn’t actually like it that much but I didn’t hate it so I won’t rate it two stars…I DON’T KNOW DAMMIT GOODREADS WHY AREN’T HALF STARS A THING?!?!?!”

Anyway…what was my point? Oh, right! This book is a 3-star book on an exclusive star scale I’ve created specially for Leigh Bardugo where five stars is “I literally read this literal 500+ page book in literally one literal sitting”, aka Six of Crows. This book just falls so, so far short of that breathtaking standard that I can’t help but rate it worse in comparison.

But here’s the thing about Leigh Bardugo’s Exclusive Star Scale™️: even a 3-star book is a fantastic read. Bardugo’s writing is cinematic in its execution; she’s a master at ratcheting up the tension and capturing complex emotions. Her world-building is fantastic. The plot is addictively interesting. This book had all of the above and then some! But I couldn’t get over (what I perceived as) its flaws, namely:

• Somehow Bardugo managed to make me dislike a friends-to-lovers love interest? 🤯 I didn’t know that was possible since that trope is my kryptonite. But yeah, for all Mal’s good points — and he has them — his douchey inability to accept Alina’s Grisha powers and his never-ending BUTTHURT sulking were nooooooooooooot doing it for me. Mal, you feel like the kind of guy who is fine with women voting but like…didn’t vote for Hillary because “something about her [being a woman & powerful] just felt ‘off’ to me” 🙄 🙄 🙄 and then we got Trump. BECAUSE. OF. YOU. MAL. Because of you. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Look, Mal has legitimate reasons to be hurt and mad, but I lost COUNT of how many times he flounces off. He’s like a passive-aggressive commenter on an internet thread who has ~*~finally~*~ decided to leave, only come back two days later and keep b!tching. 🙄 It’s like MAL, if you can’t handle a POWERFUL LADY who can SUMMON THE SUN, just LEAVE HER AND GO TRACK A THING, *GOD*.

• Which brings me to my second gripe: Alina. CHEEZITS H. CHRISTMAS was I *done* with her in this book. Now, because Bardugo is a fantastic writer, Alina, too, has actual good reasons to act the way she does, but for duck’s sake girl, stop bein’ a dum dum and TELL PEOPLE you’re hallucinating the Darkling! TELL PEOPLE that the Dom demon lord they know and love is actually a hot mummy who has been the same desiccated, reanimated zombie-Darkling this whole time! Why did she never tell anyone that?!?! I FEEL LIKE NIKOLAI HIGH-KEY NEEDS TO KNOW THIS CRUCIAL PIECE OF POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

I dunno…Alina has lots of reasons to be anxious and irritable, but I did get tired of her constant grumbling and the coooonstant back-and-forth about Mal. Like, girl, you clearly want to bang the Zombie Darkling 🧟‍♂️🍆 — I get it, we’ve all got needs — but maybe just jerk off about it 🤷🏻‍♀️ ? And then dump Mal in the morning so I don’t have to keep hearing about how difficult it is for you to ~deal~ with having your ripped bestie be willing to lay down his life for you 🤷🏻‍♀️? I don’t know why I found this so frustrating, because I think Bardugo is right to explore how the changing circumstances affect Alina and Mal’s relationship, but JIMINEY CRABSTICKS was I over Alina’s unceasing rumination about it.

• Which brings me to my last peeve. I am ALL FOR romance and love triangles and jealousy…I love it! But this was a love tetrahedron and it was just…not great? Like, A) of all how are this many hot guys just WALKING AROUND SINGLE 🤴🏼🧑🏻‍🌾🧟‍♂️ but second of B) I feel like the thing with Nikolai wasn’t even that believable? And not because he’s a master manipulator, but because these two didn’t seem to have much *actual* chemistry. Like, Nikolai could have chemistry with a potato just because…well, he’s Nikolai. But to me, his “chemistry” with Alina is about equal to the chemistry he’d have with said potato 🥔 . There was nothing special about their interactions. That part of the tetrahedron felt very forced, which unmasks the whole conceit and turns this book into a very obvious “every hot guy is in love with our heroine for ~reasons~” sideshow that I wasn’t into.

But all of that aside, I still read the book lightning fast. I still stayed up too late to finish it. And I’m definitely going to read the sequel. Nikolai is giving me serious George-Cooper-from-the-Song-of-the-Lioness-series vibes I’m LOVING IT, and Genya breaks my heart and puts it back together again every time she’s on the page. I can’t wait to see how this saga ends. Again, I don’t usually say that about a 3-star book, but when you’re Leigh Bardugo with your own Exclusive Star Scale, I make allowances. ✨ ...more

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Sep 09, 2019 Jaime rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-fantasy, read-2019

As this second book in the trilogy opens, Alina has escaped the control of the Darkling, Mal still by her side. But the Darkling has come out of their battle with new, scarier powers, and this is a war Alina and Mal can't fight on their own.

The two unexpectedly end up partnered with Strumhond, a privateer with his own small army of Grishas, and together they begin working towards taking down the Darkling. Unfortunately, it seems that the only way to do this is to complete the plan that he himsel ...more

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Jan 09, 2021 Cassandra Moore rated it it was ok

Didn't enjoy this one as much. I'm not completely sure how I feel about continuing the series at this point. I almost stopped reading this one several times.

Edited to add - Okay, I will not be reading book 3.
Spoilers below are for Ruin and Rising. Be warned!

(view spoiler) ...more

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Sep 13, 2012 CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult

This was a good book. I just didn't love it as much as I loved Shadow and Bone. I think I just don't like second books in trilogies. I was so excited to back in the world of Ravka, with its Grisha and with Alina and Mal. But the story felt much darker than the last. Alina spent most of the time feeling lonely and sad and afraid and alienated from everyone, confused about what was going on...and power hungry? I didn't like Mal's role in the story either; I wanted him to DO something, not just be ...more

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Nov 25, 2019 Ketutar Jensen rated it liked it

I like Nikolai. I don't much like Alina. I don't like the Darkling at all, and all his "unhappy childhood", BS, doesn't justify anything. Millions of people have unhappy childhood without becoming psychopaths. I like Mal.
And I kind of like these books. Still reading, huh :-D ...more

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