Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm
Series: The Grisha #2
Publisher: Indigo
Publication Date: June 6th 2013
Source: Bought

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. 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.

After reading Shadow and Bone last month, I had to get my hands on this book ASAP so I ended up buying it when I really shouldn't have been buying books (But I don't even care. It was worth it). Although I didn't find this as enjoyable as the first book, I still really loved it! It was just that there were times when there was nothing happening and I was kind of bored... But that didn't stop me from loving this book because the characters are awesome (minus Mal...)!

So Siege and Storm picks up a couple of weeks after the showdown at the end of Shadow and Bone. Alina and Mal have made their escape and are hiding out in Cofton. That is, until The Darkling catches up with them very quickly (because they were stupid and left a trail that was easy to follow). The Darkling takes Mal and Alina about his ship that is captained by Sturmhond (YAY!). The Darkling has plans for Alina, but those plans don't go to plan because of Sturmhond (Double YAY!).

So first of all, I just have to say how much I freaking love Alina. She's willing to do anything to save Ravka (even give herself over to The Darkling) and I admire her for that! Even though she ran away, she knew she had to go back and save the people from The Darkling and his wrath. She's so focused on saving people and getting rid of The Darkling and she knows that the only way to do that is to make herself more powerful. I love how she stuck to her guns in this one and never let any whiny, insecure boys (*cough* Mal *cough*) prevent her from doing what she planned to do. I just love Alina so much!

And then we have Mal... I had high hopes for Mal after the ending of Shadow and Bone, but all of my hopes disappeared very quickly. Mal did nothing but moan and whine throughout this book. He was constantly like 'LOVE ME ALINA!' or 'PAY ATTENTION TO ME ALINA' and it was starting to piss me off. Alina was trying to save Ravka, and all Mal was worried about was the fact that he was losing Alina and she wasn't spending enough time with him.... Are you serious?! GROW THE FUCK UP MAL! THERE'S MORE IMPORTANT THINGS IN THE WORLD THAN YOU FEELING SELF-CONSCIOUS! I mostly wanted to punch him in the face for being so selfish. Frankly, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he dies in the next book. He holds Alina back and just acts like a 2 year old having a tantrum.

And then we have Sturmhond! What can I say? His charming personality won me over from the second he appeared in this book. He's a pirate and I love him. Sturmhond's revelation came as a massive shock to me, and I loved it! I loved seeing it all play out and hearing his story of how it all came about. And mainly, I just loved his change after his revelation. He became more cocky and charming and I loved him even more. I'm quite disappointed about the fact that he wasn't in it as much as I would have liked, but there's still another book to come! And he better be in it.

The Darkling was also pretty absent in this one, which I was upset about. I kind of really love The Darkling, even if he is a murderer and very dangerous. I can't help it! He's just so charismatic! The Darkling gained some new, horrifying powers in this one that allowed him to create monsters (which were really creepy). And he definitely has to be stopped before he kills everyone in his path to power.

So, onto the story line for this one! There was a lot going on in this one, but to me it felt like some of the story lagged in the middle slightly, and there wasn't really anything interesting happening for a bit - which left me kind of bored. I think that's maybe why it took me slightly longer to get through than it normally would have. But there was a lot of stuff going on in this book: We had Alina and the army training to battle The Darkling; Alina on a quest to find the other mythical creatures for amplifiers and Sturmhond and his revelation. 

The ending of this book was fantastic! I couldn't believe how stupid Vasily was (well, actually I can because he's so vain he can't see past his own reflection). But for him not to tell anyone else what he'd done? Yeah, stupid move Vasily. You basically doomed everyone just so that you could try to prove that you were worthy of the throne. Idiot. I loved how action packed the ending was. I was on the edge of my seat hoping that no one would get hurt and all the characters I loved would make it out alive! And after that ending, I'm SO EXCITED for Ruin and Rising! Can it be June 2014 yet? I'd be quite happy to skip forward a year just to get that book!

Overall, this was such a fantastic sequel that introduced some amazing new characters! I really really loved this book and the ending has made me so excited for the last book! I can't wait now!