A review by shaylee_reads
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

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

2.0

Ratings:
Plot:⭐⭐/5 
Writing:⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐/5
Romance:⭐/5
Diversity:⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐ /5
Tropes: Friends to lovers
This book took me so long to get through! The reason for that was that this book was so SLOW! I was about 200 pages into this book and I felt like nothing had happened and I felt like I was still in the beginning of the book, not in the middle. I just felt like nothing was happening and this book could have been cut in half.
Another thing I disliked was Mal… just Mal. He got on my nerves so much in this book, to me he was a very manipulative, gaslighting person who made everything about himself and made Alina feel guilty for wanting to help people. He gaslighted Alina so much in this book! He made her feel like everything that was going wrong in their relationship was her fault and that she should change to make him happy and not be herself and it PISSED me off. Don't even get me started on the whole Zoya thing!! 
Another thing I'm not feeling Alina and Mal's relationship, it feels so forced and like we are supposed to believe that they are deeply in love but we don't ever see that because they barely spent any time together. Honestly Alina seemed to be so in love with him and wanting to be with him so much but Mal didn't seem to feel the same, he gave me so much F-boy vibes… like he was only pretending to care about her so he could get into her pants. I'm just not convinced in their relationship. 
Another thing is that The Darkling is supposed to be this monster but it's now really shown.. we are told that he is this terrible person but nothing he does seems to back it up. I'm not saying that he's not a terrible person because he is, I'm just saying that we are being told that he is this terrible person instead of being shown that he is.  
One thing I loved was Nikolai! He was amazing! Carried this book in his back! I'm in love with him and he saved this book. 
All together I enjoyed this book but it just wasn't as good as the first book and it was kinda a let down but I'm excited to finish the trilogy. 

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