A review by sumsreadsalot
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

4.0

Well what can i say about this book! How was this one better than the first?? I'll tell you how!.... it comes in the shape of a charming, sly pirate prince in the name of none other than Nikolai Lantsov! Yes! I've heard so much about everyone's infatuation with him and i can clearly understand why! He's the perfect swoonworthy male antihero. He really made the story interesting and i just couldn't put it down!
His crew was loveable aswell. Tamar and Tolya were really interesting characters and i felt drawn to them. The action in the beginning was fast paced and i felt myself turning the pages so fast because i was so engrossed.

...So that was the first half of the story. After that we get...barely anything. So the action slows down and they're all just training or preparing for the battle with the Darkling who we see very little of here. I didn't mind as much, as Bardugo writes in a way that even when nothing is happening, you still want to read on.

The downfall of the story was, in my opinion, Alina. I didnt like her in the first book and even less here. She just seems so sullen and grumpy, her two favourite moods. I loved Mal's scenes with Nikolai. I felt like if it wasn't for Alina being in the picture, they could've made for really good friends. Even though her situation is understandable as the responsibility on her shoulders was quadrupled here, i felt like her character was just so unlikeable.

That and the fact that barely anything happens in the second half of the book until the ending, this gets 3.5 stars. Can't wait to finish the series and find out how everything wraps up!