A review by lilifane
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm sad that I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book. It's still a good book but I found the first part too boring and the second too annoying. Which is probably not fair because there were cool scenes in the first part as well but it dragged a little too much for me. And the second part... I finally know why everyone says Mal and Alina are annoying. Because they are! Don't get me wrong, I love them both and I'm rooting for them. But their communication skills are nonexistent and this is SO frustrating. Nikolai rescued huge parts of the book for me. The banter whenever he was in the scene was just great. 
I also really liked the whole Saints mystery and I wish there was more of that. I hope this will be a bigger part in the last book. 
And there is one trope in this book that I realised I like a lot. It's when the protagonist and antagonist have this special... bond (when you know what I mean). And I think it is expertly done here. It makes sense and it is used very sparsely so it's quite effective. It gave me goosebumps everytime it happened.
Now the ending.... is amazing! The showdown and aftermath are perfect. I was glued to the pages the whole time. Loved the setting at the very end. I can't wait to continue (next month or so ^^; ).
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