Reviews tagging 'War'

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

115 reviews

rangerwing75's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-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

2.5

Started off strong, got really boring during the middle, picked up again near the end, but I was so close to putting it down. The political stuff was fun, but Alina and Mal’s relationship problems quickly killed any joy I’d had at the start with Nikolai and his crew. Shadow and Bone was great, and I wonder why this didn’t follow suit. 

---

Content Warnings

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

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

1.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Torture, Xenophobia, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

charli_bear's review against another edition

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and War

sea_sea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This book focused a lot on Alina and Nikolai building up defenses against the Darkling. I think I almost liked it more that the first book. It ended on such a Cliffhanger though ;^;. 
Sometimes this book is a bit week from a storytelling perspective, but the characters definitely make up for it!!! Alina, David, Genya, Nikolai, Tolya, Tamar, Zoya - literal PERFECTION!!!! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Stalking, and War

Minor: Bullying, Child death, and Alcohol

spookybitch's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and War

thebookaddict's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-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

The first book was better in my opinion. The action came early in this book and too much happened at once. The book got better as the story proceeded but I do think that some part are boring and unnecessary for the storyline.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

valpyre's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

overall, i found the pacing of this series to be almost perfect for me. the way that theres always something big happening multiple times and spread out over the course of the books is really interesting and makes sense for the setting -- pieces are always moving and people are always planning, and it keeps me on my toes.

i like alina as a character -- i think her development is really interesting as she processes who she is and wants to be, and i liked how she did her best to step up and do things strategically (with help, of course). the development of her powers was really interesting as well, and i like how that reflected in her connection to the darkling throughout.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

david_slack110507's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

This book is much better than the first one in my opinion yet I feel unable to give it a 4-star rating. I feel like it's closer to a 3.5 or 3.75 rounded down but I may bump it up after I let my thoughts ruminate on it. 

I found that this book was much more gripping that the previous one which very much felt like the first book in a trilogy (Not a bad thing but it definitely had that feeling) whereas while the long chapters remain in this one (And I'm assuming in all of Leigh Bardugo's work) I found it much easier and enjoyable to get through as well as it taking me less time. I liked a lot of the new characters the obvious being Nikolai who I feel brought a lot of charm to the novel and his back and forth with Alina was probably one of my favourite parts of the novel. Speaking of Alina, this time around while she still doubts herself and has her insecurities she felt a lot more involved in the action and getting to see her utilise the Cut and her power was nice to see throughout the novel. 

I also really liked that we got to see more of the military-type operation and world of the Grishaverse/Ravka and Alina coming into control of the Second Army was really cool to see as it was a nice change of pace to have her decide to fight back against the Darkling (As briefly mentioned above). Tolya and Tamar were also a pretty good addition to the ensemble of characters even if they don't get a lot of backstory or much to do besides protecting Alina. 

I can definitely see how some may not like this book as like how I feel with the first book feeling like the first book in a trilogy the same could be said for this one which can definitely feel like the second book and middle-point in a trilogy with its main goal being to set up the 3rd book/conclusion and filling out the rest of time with character dramas and a larger focus on dialogue and development that action (E.g the main real conflicts only come at the beginning and the end and The Darkling remains out of the picture for nearly all of the book aside from the final confrontation and appearing physically to Alina throughout after her nichevo'ya bite)

Overall, I might have the unpopular opinion that I preferred this book to the first and found it to be much more engaging (Perhaps due to the first book having set up everything that the second book could easily and comfortably ease back into the world). I'm planning on trying to finish this series as soon as possible rather than taking a couple of months break in between like I did with this book and the first.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

prettynerdy3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

readwithsophsx's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail