Reviews with content warning for Blood - Siege and Storm

Honestly not that much happened in this book except for the beginning and the ending. The ending was wild. The addition of Nikolai to the cast of characters is brilliant, and he's the reason this is getting a 3.25 stars. Alina lowkey has a harem now.

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klsreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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literarydumpling's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A great second installment of the Shadow and Bone trilogy. In a sense, very different time to the first book, but has just as much of a journey as the first book.

There world expands a little more and I liked the detail of how the map has gotten bigger and how the Fold has changed after absorbing Novokribirsk. There are new characters introduced that are done in a natural, but exciting, way and it doesn't feel like a huge character dump, each one is clear in terms of who they are.

I think it was great how they explored Alina and Mal's relationship and how things aren't all rosy now that they know they love one another, but that they have to grapple with Alina's new-found infamy and what that means for them.

The character development of Alina is great and you can see the parallels between her and the Darkling, and it really does keep you reading more because you can't tell what she will do next as opposed to the first book. You almost start thinking Alina is an unreliable narrator with her thoughts towards power and wanting to achieve more without stopping to notice how it is affecting the people around her.

One final thing I loved was the additional information on the politics of Ravka. With the introduction of Nikolai, you can see how Ravkan court is held as well as the split between politics, culture and religion in this world, and I think it is very well done without being too overwhelming!

You won't be disappointed by this book at all, and I'm very keen to read the second book.

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wrappingpaper's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

IM OBSESSED with this world!! So much happened in this book - I loved the introduction of the new characters and plot development and new stakes.
The last chapter was insane!? I’m obsessed and can’t wait to find out how the story resolves itself in the last book.
Overall this trilogy is great I’m so obsessed with the world building the characters the angst the twists - read this series if you haven’t already!

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emilywemily6's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I am really enjoying this series as a whole, but you can definitely tell this is a middle book in a saga where most of the book is spent in inner/external turmoil and not a lot happens in the plot. The last 100 pages blew me away and I couldn’t put it down though! This book feels necessary to introduce important characters, show character development in Alina, and set up for the final conflict in the third book, but it felt slow and was a little bit of a slog to get through. Mal got a bit annoying but as Alina understood him better I guess I did too. And I somehow have a crush on both Nicolai and the Darkling (despite everything).

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