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A review by kaiulanilee
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Book two down!
On the whole I enjoyed this so much more than the first. The characters were much more enjoyable and filled out, the writing was much less up and down for me, and it kept me much more engaged throughout. Nikolai, Tolya and Tamar have to be some of my favorite characters in the series and I enjoyed every moment with them. This book really solidified itself as a fantasy novel/part of a series that has its own unique charms whereas I felt with the first book it was a bit too trope heavy and felt too similar to other fantasy novels I’ve read. I really like how much more Leigh Bardugo addressed the class issues and politics of the world as opposed to simply touching on it. The novella at the end that focuses on Genya completely tore my heart out and I felt it was context for her character that was really needed, despite the fact that I wished it hadn’t come in the form of a simple novella at the end.
My main issues with the book lay mostly with moments where writing simply felt too melodramatic or where things that happened felt quite rushed (one being Alina’s extremely quick transition to being confident as a leader). On the whole though, the writing improved a TON. I do find myself getting quite bored with the consistent love triangle/jealousy trope going on and while I understand that people enjoy that type of story, it feels a little bit unnecessary when I personally would prefer more having to do with the politics, adventure and other characters. That being said, I thought that the dynamics of the relationships were much more enjoyable to read in this book so it’s not a huge issue.
My only other critique is a small one but has to do with being identified by his “dark skin”. I’m wondering whether he’s quite literally the only POC in this series (or in this part of the world maybe?) to the point where he would be identified by that or if he simply has the darkest skin there. I feel like Leigh Bardugo simply threw that in as a way to make it canon that there were in fact POC in the books but instead it just feels like he’s the only one? Or the only major enough to have a descriptor of his looks used. I think this was more of a carelessness error but regardless it caught my attention and thought it should be mentioned. I’m hoping this gets better in later books and I know the Netflix cast is completely different from how people are described in the books, for the most part, so i feel better about that but still, I wish more thought had went into this. Most of the characters who were described physically in any way had some mention of blonde hair or blue eyes or something along those lines that is usually thought of to be a white feature so it felt a little jarring to hear someone being described as “dark-skinned” when it seems he was the only one (so far) to have any mention that would point to him not being white. I hope the future books do better in this regard.
On the whole I enjoyed this so much more than the first. The characters were much more enjoyable and filled out, the writing was much less up and down for me, and it kept me much more engaged throughout. Nikolai, Tolya and Tamar have to be some of my favorite characters in the series and I enjoyed every moment with them. This book really solidified itself as a fantasy novel/part of a series that has its own unique charms whereas I felt with the first book it was a bit too trope heavy and felt too similar to other fantasy novels I’ve read. I really like how much more Leigh Bardugo addressed the class issues and politics of the world as opposed to simply touching on it. The novella at the end that focuses on Genya completely tore my heart out and I felt it was context for her character that was really needed, despite the fact that I wished it hadn’t come in the form of a simple novella at the end.
My main issues with the book lay mostly with moments where writing simply felt too melodramatic or where things that happened felt quite rushed (one being Alina’s extremely quick transition to being confident as a leader). On the whole though, the writing improved a TON. I do find myself getting quite bored with the consistent love triangle/jealousy trope going on and while I understand that people enjoy that type of story, it feels a little bit unnecessary when I personally would prefer more having to do with the politics, adventure and other characters. That being said, I thought that the dynamics of the relationships were much more enjoyable to read in this book so it’s not a huge issue.
My only other critique is a small one but has to do with being identified by his “dark skin”. I’m wondering whether he’s quite literally the only POC in this series (or in this part of the world maybe?) to the point where he would be identified by that or if he simply has the darkest skin there. I feel like Leigh Bardugo simply threw that in as a way to make it canon that there were in fact POC in the books but instead it just feels like he’s the only one? Or the only major enough to have a descriptor of his looks used. I think this was more of a carelessness error but regardless it caught my attention and thought it should be mentioned. I’m hoping this gets better in later books and I know the Netflix cast is completely different from how people are described in the books, for the most part, so i feel better about that but still, I wish more thought had went into this. Most of the characters who were described physically in any way had some mention of blonde hair or blue eyes or something along those lines that is usually thought of to be a white feature so it felt a little jarring to hear someone being described as “dark-skinned” when it seems he was the only one (so far) to have any mention that would point to him not being white. I hope the future books do better in this regard.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Fatphobia, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, and Suicide attempt