Siege and Storm

“Why won't you leave me alone?” I whispered one night as he hovered behind me while I tried to work at my desk.Long minutes passed. I didn't think he would answer. I even had time to hope he might have gone, until I felt his hand on my shoulder.“Then I'd be alone, too,” he said, and he stayed the whole night through, till the lamps burned down to nothing.”

I don't know how to write a review that will do this book justice. So I'm going to do something I haven't done yet and do a gif review!

Siege and Storm was just like Shadow and Bone where I flew through it.



This one took more than one sitting sadly because of work and life, but hey it gave me more time to savor it.

So this book starts off quite a bit after Shadow and Bone. Which is good because the characters have settled into their new roles and we get right to the action and plot. Alina is very different in this book. She is more determined and has a semblance of a plan to save Ravka.

For me, this trilogy is all about the Darkling and how much I love his characterization. Yeah he may be the “villain” but I also think his character is too complex to be categorized as such. After the huge role he played in Shadow and Bone there was not nearly enough of him in this story for my taste. Every time we did get him, I was all like:



I know everyone obsesses about the Darkling and I'm definitely one of them. Another aspect that made this second book so great was all the new characters we got to meet and get to know. Nikolai being one of them. I love how he is first revealed to be the Prince and how much mischief he can get up to. While I'm definitely pro Alina/Darkling, I had a few Nikolai/Alina moments where I was all:



I definitely cannot wait to start Ruin and Rising and see how Leigh Bardugo finishes up the trilogy, but at the same time I'm super worried about the emotional toil it will take. I have fallen so in love with this world and these characters that I'm scared to see what she has done with them in the final book.



I also have that small voice in the back of my head warning me about disappointment with final books in series (but it is just a super small voice because I know almost everyone loves this trilogy in its entirety).