Siege and Storm

By: Leigh Bardugo

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

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, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. But 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.

©2013 Leigh Bardugo (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Aggravating

I spent most of the time yelling at the main characters for being irrational brats. Even the villain made more sense. Mal yelled at everyone for no reason, I think he needed a hug. This book was thoroughly disappointing. The main characters where completely unlikable.

The villain is one of the most likable characters in the series...I was actively rooting for him.

2,5

meh
if it wasnt an audiobook i prob. wouldnt have finished it...
not impressed
meh

Not as good as I had hoped

Liked the first book, was hoping in the second that the main character would grow a spine. For someone who supposedly has a lot of power she let's people push her around. Love triangle is getting old.

I hate the main character

The book is fine, but the main character drove me up the wall. I spent too much time yelling at her to make up her mind, say something, use her power, stop being useless, etc. My husband was listening with me and quit half way through because he couldn't take it anymore.

Kinda of Falls For the Sophomore Curse

I'm going to admit to a huge ambivalence about this second book in the Grisha series. On the one hand, I am still loving the world and the magic concepts. But then when it comes to the characters and the action sequences, I'm either bored or baffled. Seems like there would be an amazing story here with different people.

In Siege and Storm, Alina and Mal are trying to remain hidden from the Darkling. But double crosses (from both the Darkling and his allies) will force Alina and Mal back to the heart of Ravka. With a new (and interesting) ally, facing the Darkling in the open rather than in hiding may be their only option.

Book two suffers from a couple of sophomore symptoms: 'manufactured' conflict between the two romantic leads, emasculation of the male love interest, a dead dull, bloated middle arc, and recycled storylines from the first book. It was the same themes over again (Darkling capturing Alina and threatening someone she cares about, Alina trusting and getting romantically involved with a stranger, a large section of nothing but Alina moping/learns new responsibilities, then big action at the end) that made for a frustrating book.

But at the same time, there was an attempt at character growth for both Alina and Mal, though one moved forward and the other backward. Yes, every girl in the story wants Mal and every guy in the story seems to want Alina. That gets old and seems to only be there to create jealousy and uncertainty in the Mal-Alina relationship. As such, it made it hard to get into either character. Mal was an elusive character at best in the previous book - now he's practically inscrutable in his insecurity.

The action scenes were also very problematic for me. It seems that none of the Grisha were able to use their powers for anything other than collecting water or making a breeze. Alina can only do a sickle strike with her powers. Even knowing that an army of smoke like creatures are coming, no one seems to bother to create any kind of defense or train to defend/attack those creatures. We get one crazy invention and that's it. I admittedly became really annoyed that all the Grisha and soldiers were so amazingly ineffectual. As well, the Darkling's new power is supposedly life sucking but he seems to be able to summon an entire army just fine, other than looking a bit tired. It just didn't ring true.

There are consequences for those who side with the Darkling. And a few surprises (with hints that Mal is more than he seems) with a trail leading back to the birthplace of Mal and Alina. I'm excited, despite my lukewarm response of this book, to see where Bardugo ends the Trilogy.

The narrator did a good job and felt right for the part of Alina.

Second Book Syndrome

The story goes fast, slooooooooow, ends fast. I will still read the third but I understand what the reviews were saying. I honestly still don't know who her final love interest will be which is a good thing I guess, but I also don't like the options rn. Plot has seemed entirely like a set up for the third book, not much happened just mainly focused of relationship development.

I've liked the narrator in other books, but I did not prefer some of her tonal decisions. The main character already comes off a bit complainey and she could have helped reduce it, but instead she leaned into the whiney tones and it made the main character seem even more immature. she has a bit of sibilance as well, so if that bothers you just be aware. Her overall read however is still very decent.

Leaving Frustrated

When a story line is based on a young child and female always doing something stupid or frozen with fear and unable to act I get so frustrated with the story. When your heroine can't act or make a decision she really is not a heroine. Maybe that was the goal but just makes me want to pull out my hair with frustration.

ok. unable to complete

I really likes the six of crows series, but I struggled through this and gave up halfway through. just didn't hold my attention enough

The Dip in the Middle

Compared to my review of Shadow and Bone I am going to try and keep this one short. As a second novel goes I believe that Bardugo really does improve in her world building, characters, and plot (in some ways). First, she makes an effort to better explain how her magic system works, and we get a better picture of how everything falls into place. Second, we learn much more about the political and social landscapes of the kingdom of Ravka, which in their own way advances the plot.

The biggest improvement in this second novel has to be the characters though. Bardugo adds several new characters to the mix, which really make the story click better, and helps us as the reader get a better picture of the overarching plot. These new characters have well defined depth and show personalities rivaling some of the Six of Crows characters.

Now we come to the plot which in one way improves and in another way struggles very much in my opinion. At the beginning of the novel events kick off with a bang and continue the fast pace of the previous book, and the plot seems to be moving at a rapid pace. The same thing occurs in the last quarter of the book, where things really come to a head very nicely. However, the middle 50 percent of this novel is where Bardugo struggles. Her claim to fame is the fast pace constant action plot, which she maintains for the most part in Shadow and Bone and in the first and fourth quarters of this novel. However, it seems to me that the middle 6 hours of this book are nothing but conversations between characters that go nowhere. The plot slows to a crawl, and it feels like she could have easily cut out a good 50 pages. Also, it seems like she attempted a couple of plot twists in this part of the book that were very obvious and didn't help the story whatsoever.

In conclusion, I did like this book more than Shadow and Bone but still not nearly as much as either of the SIX of Crows books. That weak middle of the novel was the cause of my 3 star rating and I really struggled to get passed it.

too long

I feel like the middle of the book dragged way too much. It could have been shorter and still tell the information needed for the next book

Yawn

All she harps on about is boys, boys, boys. Does she like him? Should she? Etc. Nevermind that the world's is in peril and only she can save it or whatever. Alina is the most insipid and disappointing female main character that I've come across in quite a while. What a load of dross.

Couldn't finish

What would have made Siege and Storm better?

The story itself was fine, but I couldn't stomach the way the main character was written. Despite the fact that Alina is supposed to be saving the world, she spends all her time obsessing over the guy she's in love with. In the end I was so offended by this stereotypical character that I had to stop listening to the book.

What character would you cut from Siege and Storm?

Alina

Sturmhond

As soon as I finished Shadow and Bone I had to jump into Siege and Storm. Mal and Alina have been living a normal life for a while now but Alina is struggling. By not using her powers she is making herself weak and quite frankly unhappy. It's not long before The Darkling catches up to them and their life is thrown into chaos again.

I enjoyed this book so much. I cannot describe how much. This was due to one of my all-time favourite characters Sturmhond aka The Clever Fox. This character is blunt, honest and oh so witty.

Mal irritated me a lot in this book. He was selfish and very whingey. Alina is trying to save the world from The Darkling and he is complaining because she doesn't want a few kisses. He doesn't stop to notice that something is wrong he is so wrapped up in himself that he can't see that something is seriously wrong.

On the flip side, Alina kept everything to herself and never asked anyone for help which frustrated me immensely. Just ask for some god damn help woman!

This book is so much more than the first and it made my love for the series and the verse increase dramatically. (Yes most of that is down to Sturmhond)

The end of this book is pretty dramatic/cliffhanger like so I was so so glad I didn't need to wait for the final book in the series.

Could have been better

Half of the length of this book could have achieved the same effect. The narrator is too slow, I listened to it on 1.2 speed.

Nice story annoying characters and irritating narrator

I like the story, and the world that is created in this series, but the voice of the narrator and the characters are very irritating. Alina is unlikable and childish, and so is basically every character in the series. It is a pity because it ruins a good storyline. I wouldn’t recommend reading it or listening to this audiobook, its better to watch the Netflix series. There they cut out most of the annoying parts.

Incredibly slow going

Quite disappointed in this book. I enjoyed the first book and had hoped for more.

The plot went at a snail's pace and was predictable, there was no character growth, Alina's inner dialogue was incredibly whiny, Mal seemed intend on misunderstanding her and not a whole lot happened in all these hours of listening.

I feel this book could have easily been half the number of pages it turned out to be. It seems like needless filler to make it into a trilogy.

Still as intriguing as the first book

Who was your favorite character and why?

I can't really decide who is my favourite character in Siege and Storm. Alina is as sweet as ever but The Darkling is still so very fascinating. The more you know about him the more you wonder and also hope. And then there is new and very exciting pirate Stormhound. He is so very entertaining. So, I can't decide on favourite

What does Lauren Fortgang bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I just love Lauren Fortgang's narration. She immediately draws you in. Also she is so easy to understand, which is important to everybody whose mother tongue is not English.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Though the story is quite captivating and moderately fast paced, I fast frustrated occasionally with Mal and Alina. Both seem to struggle overly much with each other and the situation and this felt a bit fabricated. Especially as this is the "middle" book and I felt as if some additional drama had to be produced. But there is plenty of actual drama already. Only a sleight thing but nevertheless.

Eh

This book felt almost entirely identical to the first with just some characters switched around. But I do believe that if I was a younger reader I would have enjoyed it much more.

A bland sequel

After a good promising setup from book 1 this is a big disappointment. Very little happens and found it a real struggle to finish

Couldn’t Wait To Finish

No Spoilers

I was board from the start to the end, if you love Alina & Mal then you might get more enjoyment then me.
I was so board with them half through Shadow & Bone, only read this because of the introduction of Nikolai I also liked the Darkling more then them.

I’m so glad I didn’t buy physical books as would have struggled to finish them.
I only decided to read these because I have physical books of Six of Crows & Crooked Kingdom arriving soon, I know you don’t have to read the trilogy first, but I think I’ll probably will read King of Scars after.

I have to get through Ruin and Rising first on Audible of course, doubt I’ll enjoy but it will be the end.