Siege and Storm

Tell me if you've heard this one before - when she is very young and doesn't know herself, a girl falls for a boy. To her, he is everything she is not. He is greater than her in every way she thinks matters - he's more beautiful, more charming, more capable and strong. She loves him so much that she shrinks herself to fit into his life and his world - until one day she can't. Her greatness is forced out of her and she swells. Her strength, her beauty, her absolute otherworldliness explodes for everyone to see. And finally, the boy realizes he loves her too. But she's grown so much that she doesn't fit into his world - which they now both realize is quite small - so instead of trying to fit into hers, all he can do is tell her how much he wishes she was small again. There are a few books that tackle this. The [b:Shatter Me 10429045 Shatter Me (Shatter Me, #1) Tahereh Mafi https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1310649047l/10429045.SY75.jpg 15333458] series, despite its many flaws, handles this dynamic very well and calls it for what it is. More likely though, if you're a woman or socialized as one, you've lived it, or watched it happen to someone you know or care about. And Alina Starkov is no different. But man, it'd be nice to read a story for once where men are just a little better.Let's get it straight - Siege and Storm is pretty boring. Unlike [a:Tahereh Mafi 4637539 Tahereh Mafi https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1444252799p2/4637539.jpg], Leigh Bardugo makes sure her heroine goes through the work of becoming a true leader and is faithful to what it actually takes. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to have the ability or the interest in making it exciting. Much like Shadow and Bone, not a whole lot happens in this book, but it isn't nearly as compelling because we aren't propelled by the same kind of narrative. In the first book, we see Alina get the Cinderella treatment and then see her betrayed. We are with her on her emotional journey. Here we see Alina go from fugitive to political and military leader, as she returns to Ravka and the Little Palace having agreed to help the second-in-line Prince Nikolai with his bid for the throne in exchange for control of the Second Army. A classic narrative this is not. There isn't really a core conflict here either, its just Alina fumbling through boring strategy meetings and doing dumb things in order to get something exciting to happen. The emotional core of the story instead lies between her and Mal, her childhood best friend and now lover, which as it happens makes this book even more tiring.This story is about Alina and the Darkling. I'm not saying this because I think the Darkling is sexy or some fangirl shit like that. I'm saying this because the dynamic between these twin forces is what this series is built on. So why did they spend an entire book away from each other aside from force projections? I keep seeing these narratives of two people with god-like powers trying to do battle, and somehow there's always some douchebag on the sidelines trying to distract the girl because “This isn't you,” or “why can't things be like before?” or “Let's just run away.” Oh my god, dude, she's better and more important than you, get the fuck over it. What I'd give for a story where the normie boyfriend just says “What do you need from me?” and doesn't throw a fit when he realizes his girlfriend could crush him like a bug.Am I even still talking about this book? Were there things I liked about it? Of course. Like everyone, I like Nikolai. Mostly, I really liked the political and strategic elements he brought to the story. There was so much potential for this to be a great court drama but its just not followed through with. The final act was pretty exciting though, it was dark and violent and pulled no punches. I liked how Alina and the Darkling were finally brought together. The fact that their words to each other kind of sounded like marriage vows was not surprising, and reaffirms what I've been saying. But overall this installment was very dull, it expands on all of the lesser elements of the first book and very few of the better ones.