The pacing and the plotlines were a hit and a miss for me.

The Darkling, however, remains a mystery to me, one I am near desperate to uncover. I learned more about Mal and what makes him tick – for better or for worse. In my Shadow and Bone review, I said that I hoped to see more character development from both Mal and The Darkling, and I got half of my wish granted. As we see the world through her perspective, it was quite the opposite of empowering, and that was a disappointment, especially for a book that young girls are likely to read. Alina was never an active participant in her story.

I was craving to see her take control of her life and have more autonomy, but I was disappointed to see her, once again, being directed on her path by all of the other characters in the story. I suppose this makes sense given all she had been through in the first book, and it is realistic – two steps forward and one step back, as they say. Right from the get-go, I felt that Alina’s character had regressed from her growth in the first book. | Character Development |Īs this is a review of the second book, I will skip my thoughts on world building because they remain the same – I love this world it’s so clever and unique I am here for it! I do want to address the character development again. When will I ever learn? That being said, I will try my best to review the characters, plot, and relationships in Siege and Storm and not include any biases from the third book, Ruin and Rising. I need to preface this review by saying that I, once again, made a mistake and continued to read the third book in the series before writing this review. If you want to see what I thought of the first book, go ahead a check out my Shadow and Bone Book Review. Siege and Storm is the second book in the Shadow and Bone Trilogy. Also, make sure you’ve read Shadow and Bone before reading this, but that goes without saying.

*Spoiler alert* I do mention a new character – I do not include any details, but you should probably avoid this review if you want to go into this book completely blind. “The less you say, the more weight your words will carry.” – Leigh Bardugo, Siege and Storm

Siege and storm by leigh bardugo