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readwithde's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I very rarely prefer a sequel to an initial book in a series, but I was constantly and delightfully surprised by Siege and Storm.
The characters felt even more grounded and real, if that is possible. I'm so used to reading fantasy novels (or watching fantasy) where the heroes constantly fight their flaws and think only of the big picture. It is refreshing to have Alina realize how much she wants power, how much she has obsessed over getting the amplifiers. I love that she is constantly overwhelmed and still full of grudges and emotion; it has been only a year (if that) since she discovered she was a Grisha, and she should be overwhelmed by commanding her own troops and preparing for war.
Even the love triangle (square?) seems real and grounded in the characters: Mal is the passive one, waiting for Alina to prove she wants him but refusing to communicate, while The Darkling imposes his own needs and wishes on her, and Nikolai plays the long game, constantly calculating actions and choosing when to risk vulnerability.
While a few of my guesses were correct, most of the last hundred pages were a complete and welcome surprise. It was refreshing to see Prince Vasily try to match his younger brother's cleverness and fail miserably, losing his birthright by his own hubris -- it was nearly Shakespearean or ripped from a Greek tragedy. Likewise, with nearly half the book away from The Darkling, it was refreshing to see him in his full power, both in his manipulation of others and political scheming, but also his strategies and honed skill as the leader of an army. His ambush and coup were nearly perfect.
I am very intrigued by the Sun Cult led by the Apparat. While in the shadows for most of the book, they proved to be useful allies, not to be overlooked by the Crown or Alina. I was completely unprepared for Tolya and Tamar to be part of it, but I'm excited to see where this will lead. If anything, it's a safe place for Alina to recover from her fight.
And, oh my gosh, what a crazy standoff we had between Alina and The Darkling. They have such a creepy codependent relationship, like a dark fantasy Catherine and Heathcliff, "whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same," that is both enthralling and horrifying. Alina is clever though, and she found a weakness (just as Nikolai taught her, every person has a price), and all the talk of Saints and martyrdom definitely got into her head. Twice she has left him for dead and escaped with Mal, and twice she has been forced into hiding as he survived. I guess third times a charm.
The characters felt even more grounded and real, if that is possible. I'm so used to reading fantasy novels (or watching fantasy) where the heroes constantly fight their flaws and think only of the big picture. It is refreshing to have Alina realize how much she wants power, how much she has obsessed over getting the amplifiers. I love that she is constantly overwhelmed and still full of grudges and emotion; it has been only a year (if that) since she discovered she was a Grisha, and she should be overwhelmed
Even the love triangle (square?) seems real and grounded in the characters:
While a few of my guesses were correct, most of the last hundred pages were a complete and welcome surprise.
I am very intrigued by the Sun Cult led by the Apparat. While in the shadows for most of the book, they proved to be useful allies, not to be overlooked by the Crown or Alina. I was completely unprepared for Tolya and Tamar to be part of it, but I'm excited to see where this will lead. If anything, it's a safe place for Alina to recover from her fight.
And, oh my gosh, what a crazy standoff we had between Alina and The Darkling. They have such a creepy codependent relationship, like a dark fantasy Catherine and Heathcliff, "whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same," that is both enthralling and horrifying. Alina is clever though, and she found a weakness (just as Nikolai taught her, every person has a price), and all the talk of Saints and martyrdom definitely got into her head. Twice she has left him for dead and escaped with Mal, and twice she has been forced into hiding as he survived. I guess third times a charm.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War
elysh_kaye's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-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
3.75
Faced pace and enjoyable, I definitely think the writing improves from the first book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: War
Minor: Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
sooreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Toxic relationship and War
Minor: Torture
gayghostprince's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
only 4.25 because it broke my heart
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Stalking
I put stalking because of the fact that Alina is clearly traumatized by the darkling chasing her.kathshiroma's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and War
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
asthxte's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, and War
tiemzahra's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Surprisingly, I like the sequel. I’ve jumped to the third book atm. Still, I cannot say for sure that my opinion for the two leads is much different from before. In fact, they have infuriated me more. The one person who brought excitement to this book is Nikolai Lantsov. I’m not sure if this character has been casted yet for the Netflix series, but I love him. Both Alina and Mal exaggerated their reaction around him that I don’t understand. Especially of Mal, now I know what other readers have been talking about when they talk about him. What a hinderer. He prevented Alina from doing anything remotely heroic, that I mistook it as jealousy, while he deemed it protective.
And because of that I see why people ship the Darkling and Alina. Not that I do, butit's true that the Darkling saw Alina for what she is capable of, unlike Mal who saw Alina as someone to be protected and shouldn't meddle with the upcoming war, that they should just run away and lived together without interference, like that was an option to begin with!
And because of that I see why people ship the Darkling and Alina. Not that I do, but
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: War
angstifies's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
fuck the darkling and fuck every darkling apologist.
(FOR THE CONTENT WARNINGS THE SEXUAL ASSAULT TAG IS ABOUT TWO NON CONSENSUAL KISSES)
(FOR THE CONTENT WARNINGS THE SEXUAL ASSAULT TAG IS ABOUT TWO NON CONSENSUAL KISSES)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Blood and War
paularize's review against another edition
medium-paced
2.25
some thoughts:
- this started out somewhat promising and I was really excited in the beginning when they went to Novyi Zem because it’s a country we don’t know a lot about but then they immediately left again to go back to Ravka AGAIN
- Nikolai is fun! Would’ve loved to see more of him!
- I thought we would spend more time with his Sturmhond persona on the funky pirate (privateer, sorry) ship tbh. I don’t know if that is because I’ve only known him as Sturmhond for the past 4 years or because I am not immune to sea adventures and secret identities but it didn’t happen anyway so. Hm.
- imagine having the whole little palace at your feet and still choosing the former darkling‘s rooms like?? they made you commander if you don’t want to sleep there just say it girl
- speaking of commander, I am so glad the netflix show aged these people up thank god
- speaking of the show, I was pretty bored for huge chunks of this book (what even happened. Did anything happen) but at the same time it has the potential to work a lot better in the show and I am super intrigued what they will make out of it, especially if they take the time to explore some of the themes more deeply like the cult around the sun summoner or Alina‘s inner conflict with power.
- Tamar <3
- whenever Kerch or Ketterdam is mentioned I’m like!! Maybe I should reread six of crows again (I won’t. unless)
- I have nothing to say about Mal, he was just There™
- it’s pretty clear this is mostly a filler book to get to the important plot points in book 3 but I’m just not invested enough in a lot of the side characters to read another little palace training arc
I have to wait a few weeks for the 3rd book which is a blessing because i need a break after this but I genuinely hope it will be more exciting than this
- this started out somewhat promising and I was really excited in the beginning when they went to Novyi Zem because it’s a country we don’t know a lot about but then they immediately left again to go back to Ravka AGAIN
- Nikolai is fun! Would’ve loved to see more of him!
- I thought we would spend more time with his Sturmhond persona on the funky pirate (privateer, sorry) ship tbh. I don’t know if that is because I’ve only known him as Sturmhond for the past 4 years or because I am not immune to sea adventures and secret identities but it didn’t happen anyway so. Hm.
- imagine having the whole little palace at your feet and still choosing the former darkling‘s rooms like?? they made you commander if you don’t want to sleep there just say it girl
- speaking of commander, I am so glad the netflix show aged these people up thank god
- speaking of the show, I was pretty bored for huge chunks of this book (what even happened. Did anything happen) but at the same time it has the potential to work a lot better in the show and I am super intrigued what they will make out of it, especially if they take the time to explore some of the themes more deeply like the cult around the sun summoner or Alina‘s inner conflict with power.
- Tamar <3
- whenever Kerch or Ketterdam is mentioned I’m like!! Maybe I should reread six of crows again (I won’t. unless)
- I have nothing to say about Mal, he was just There™
- it’s pretty clear this is mostly a filler book to get to the important plot points in book 3 but I’m just not invested enough in a lot of the side characters to read another little palace training arc
I have to wait a few weeks for the 3rd book which is a blessing because i need a break after this but I genuinely hope it will be more exciting than this
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and War
illgiveyouahint's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, and War
Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol