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A review by jtuulu
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
2.0
2/5 I really really hate to do this, because I loved Shadow and Bone and I'm committed to read through the entire Grishaverse, but I hated almost every minute of this book. I'm devasted! To summarize: it was boring (a lot of talking but nothing is happening), the characters were aggravating (Alina was dumb and incompetent, Mal was whiny and annoyingly jealous), and the pacing was an agonizingly slow crawl with some excitement in the first 50 pages and the last 20 pages. I've read some books that were slow paced and focused on court politics or preparing for a battle and there's usually this tension and intrique as you wait for everything to come together. I did not feel any tension or intrique here, and I didn't care about most of the characters. The only saving grace is Nikolai (his banter with Alina) and the Darkling. Below is a quote to perfectly sum up this book
"But nothing was as tedious as the "strategy sessions" with the King's advisers and commanders... his counselors talked in endless circles... they argued every line of every budget, from quantities of ammunition to what the troops ate for breakfast. And yet it was rare that anything got done or decided." (Chapter 17)
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SPOILER THOUGHTS
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Also, the plot framework for this book goes like this: Alina and Mal escape the Darkling (from book one), they are captured by the Darkling, ft. scary new monsters. Alina and Mal escape the Darkling again, ft. Sturmhond. Alina and Mal avoid capture by the Darkling for a good portion of the book because they are holed up in the palace with a Grisha army. They fight the Darkling and lose embarrassingly fast. Alina is captured by the Darkling AGAIN. Alina finds a loophole and escapes the Darkling AGAIN. Maybe I just don't like the cat and mouse trope? Is that what this is? It's boring and repetitive.
"But nothing was as tedious as the "strategy sessions" with the King's advisers and commanders... his counselors talked in endless circles... they argued every line of every budget, from quantities of ammunition to what the troops ate for breakfast. And yet it was rare that anything got done or decided." (Chapter 17)
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SPOILER THOUGHTS
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Spoiler
I was hoping that at least half of this book took place on the ship hunting for the sea whip. Then maybe 100 pages of court politics and strategy and the remaining 100 pages could be the tension and climax of the battle. Instead this was predominately strategy planning and menial problems with Grisha not getting along with each other, Mal sulking because Alina is too important for him now, Alina questioning her powers and her worth, and Alina fighting off proposal after proposal and making us think that something was going to happen between her and Nikolai (but nothing does, which, whatever. But then what was the point?!).Also, the plot framework for this book goes like this: Alina and Mal escape the Darkling (from book one), they are captured by the Darkling, ft. scary new monsters. Alina and Mal escape the Darkling again, ft. Sturmhond. Alina and Mal avoid capture by the Darkling for a good portion of the book because they are holed up in the palace with a Grisha army. They fight the Darkling and lose embarrassingly fast. Alina is captured by the Darkling AGAIN. Alina finds a loophole and escapes the Darkling AGAIN. Maybe I just don't like the cat and mouse trope? Is that what this is? It's boring and repetitive.