Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

41 reviews

oldemort's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

I've decided to rate this book 4 ⭐️. I still really enjoyed it, just less than the first book. 🥲

Let's be real, the reason I didn't like this book as much was the lack of the Darkling content and the ton of Mal content.  😅

Character wise, I still found Alina a bit immature and annoying at times, but I think I liked her a bit more than in Shadow and Bone. 🙂 Obviously, I still love the Darkling and I wish there was way more of him in this book. 😍

The only thing that I didn't really like that he did was making his monsters hurt Genya like that. 😬 I mean, I get why he did it, because she'd kind of betrayed him and all, but still. 🫣

Mal, I COMPLETELY HATED WITH EVERY BONE IN MY BODY. 🤬He's so annoying and petty and throughout the whole book just seemed to be trying to start arguments with Alina and was constantly blaming her for things that weren't even her fault. 😤

Also when he said: 

 

"At least she doesn't flinch when I touch her,"

 

 

That was so disgusting! 🤢 And this is the character I'm supposed to like?! 😧

Anyway, I quite liked Nikolai, 

although I guess that was because in some ways he was similar to the Darkling, like the way he's constantly just trying to annoy Mal. 🤭

He was also funny sometimes.  😂 As for Tamar and Tolya (I'm pretty sure that's their names), they were okay. 😐 I liked how they were looking after Alina, 

but the whole "plot twist" with them secretly, like, following the Apparat person didn't really bother me much. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Like, I wasn't gob-smacked. 😶 I didn't expect it, but I didn't really care about it. 🫤 Like, obviously he's creepy and a weirdo, but meh. 🫥Although I think it would be cool if there was, like, a plot twist in the next book that was something to do with him. 😎 It just kind of seems weird that he's still such an important character if he isn't going to be involved in a plot twist of some sort. 🥸

 

Plot wise, the end of this book made me sad. 😭

Like, the poor little Darkling thought Alina was going to be nice to him and help him and then she was just like "sike, I wanna take your power". 😣 He's just so misunderstood. 😔 I really liked the plot twist with Vasily thinking he'd made a great deal because I was thinking "Surely he can't actually do anything good or smart" and then BAM! 🤯 He was a massive idiot and basically helped the Darkling get to them. 🤦🏼‍♀️ He kind of deserved to die, he was rude and arrogant. 😤 And then obviously I didn't like when Alina tried to take the Darkling's power because that was just rude! 😠 How dare she! 😡 I really thought for a second she was just going to go with him. 😞 She clearly picked up a few manipulative tactics from the Darkling (and Mal). 🫣 Honestly, Mal was really annoying when he decided to save Alina. 😒 Like, I think it would've been a good ending if they'd have both just died. 🥲 But now, because of Mal, Alina has no power and they're basically just doomed. 😬 It's kind of cool that Alina has white hair now though.  😅 I wonder if the Darkling lost his power too? 🤔 Or if he's still got his power and he's got Alina's as well now? 🧐

 

Anyway, I'm excited to see what happens in the next book, 

especially with Alina not having her power now. 🤩

My ideal ending would be either Alina and the Darkling dying because, I don't know, that just seems like a peaceful ending, or with Mal dying and Alina and the Darkling ending up together (which I don't think is very likely).  🙃

However, I think that the Darkling will die (seeing as that's the only actual way to, like, ensure that he can never do evil again) and that Mal and Alina will live and be together and live happily ever after, even though I obviously don't want that to happen. 😣 (Also, my prediction may end up being correct, so that's why this is in the spoiler bit, just in case. 😌 I mean, my ideal endings could also come true, but I highly doubt it.) 🙃

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Cursing, Gun violence, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Grief, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

jeggert10's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Death, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Chronic illness, Infidelity, and Grief

vnfhcxksiw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

tabea1409's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ladygetslit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

While I enjoyed the concept of the series, Siege and Storm falls victim to second book syndrome in that it feels like not much is happening. The best part of the entire book was the addition of Nikolai’s character. The worst part of the book, honestly, was Alina’s narration. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Torture and Kidnapping

klsreads's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child death

emilywemily6's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

memorykey2's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Listen, its been so long since I've read Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising that they have completely blended together in my mind. The pacing was a little off in this book and it was a little hard to get through certain parts of it. That said, this book lets you see how Leigh Bardugo's strengths are developing and leading to something amazing in the future. Still, gross age difference and gross/ possesive behavior to a minor.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping

salem0's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

i love worldbuilding stuff, and this book was mainly centered around explaining more of the background of the grishaverse which was pretty interesting. the plot was pretty slow tho, and it was a little boring in the middle of the book. i liked seeing some of the characters' flaws become more prominent in this. last fight scene felt a bit rushed, i would've liked it to have lasted long. nice book overall.

also my copy came with a short story about genya, called 'the tailor', which was pretty good and quite emotional. i'm probably biased because genya's one of my favorites from the trilogy so far. but i liked it a little more than the whole of s&s.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping and War

Minor: Sexual harassment