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A review by ketreads
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
dark
hopeful
slow-paced
2.0
This book did not do it for me.
Let's just hope it's middle book syndrome as this is the second book in Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse series, the first being Shadow and Bone (a book I was pleasantly surprised at enjoying so much).
(VERY MILD SPOILERS)
This book starts off exactly where we ended Shadow and Bone with the series being set in a Russian folklore inspired fantasy world. I loved the setting and I was very excited to see more of the world that was hinted at in the first book. While the book starts pretty strong, it became apparent almost immediately that Bardugo's plan was to completely undo the ending of book one. After what is probably my favourite part of book two where the character spend a small stint at sea for various reasons, we're then returned straight back to the little palace from book one and don't leave this setting until the epilogue. To say I was disappointed is a bit of an understatement. The world and story felt like it had been set up so perfectly to take a leap forward into the unknown and reveal more of the world and history surrounding it. Instead, we spend the book listening to the same characters whining about the same things, set ups to events/attacks/ the culmination of various story beats only to have them 'subverted' at the last minuet for what I presume is shock value. This cemented the book as not only unremarkable, but frustrating to read as there was so much potential in so many small details that have nothing done with them.
Over all, I'm very annoyed but will probably finish book 3 as my library has it in audio book form, too!
Let's just hope it's middle book syndrome as this is the second book in Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse series, the first being Shadow and Bone (a book I was pleasantly surprised at enjoying so much).
(VERY MILD SPOILERS)
This book starts off exactly where we ended Shadow and Bone with the series being set in a Russian folklore inspired fantasy world. I loved the setting and I was very excited to see more of the world that was hinted at in the first book. While the book starts pretty strong, it became apparent almost immediately that Bardugo's plan was to completely undo the ending of book one. After what is probably my favourite part of book two where the character spend a small stint at sea for various reasons, we're then returned straight back to the little palace from book one and don't leave this setting until the epilogue. To say I was disappointed is a bit of an understatement. The world and story felt like it had been set up so perfectly to take a leap forward into the unknown and reveal more of the world and history surrounding it. Instead, we spend the book listening to the same characters whining about the same things, set ups to events/attacks/ the culmination of various story beats only to have them 'subverted' at the last minuet for what I presume is shock value. This cemented the book as not only unremarkable, but frustrating to read as there was so much potential in so many small details that have nothing done with them.
Over all, I'm very annoyed but will probably finish book 3 as my library has it in audio book form, too!