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A review by aprildiamond
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
2.0
Welcome back to the Grisha trilogy. In book 2, you can read about exciting events including absolutely nothing happening until the last 30 pages and every single character being annoying/problematic at least once!
I have a lot to say so let’s get into it!
The Pacing: Like I said, why are both of these books just pages of nothing and then the climax and falling action shoved into the last 30 pages?? There for sure did not need to be that much buildup. Even worse, we read about war strategies and new inventions for hundreds of pages and then Vasily just up and said “come on in!” to the enemy and guess what? They didn't get to use any of that stuff! So what was the point of reading about all that preparation lmaooo.
Alina: As the main character, she did not impress me at all in the first book. Here, she instead fluctuates constantly. I honestly can’t say if I liked her this book or not. Sometimes I was like “yes girl period” and other times I was like “wtf are you doing”. Most of the latter came from the times she was worried about her love life when there were much more important things to be worried about. But her deciding to lead the Second Army and seeing her do that was pretty cool. Basically, Alina minus the romance would have been fun to read about.
Genya: She had kind of a small part, but I need to mention her because I liked her last book. Now? Honestly wtf. She rightfully attacked the king after what he did to her. Alina had been held against her will and killed the people on the skiff out of self defense. So Genya, who had BEEN THROUGH a situation like that, had the nerve to say there was no difference between what Alina did and the Darkling murdering an entire town to prove a point. Make it make sense.
That whole thing just rubbed me the complete wrong way. Don't know if I can stan her again, at least not for a long while.
See, even with a tiny part she managed to follow the "must be annoying at least once" rule of this book.
Nikolai: Okay all the reviews I’ve seen are gushing over this man but like… he’s still problematic! I’m not forgetting him being creepy af and kissing someone without any semblance of consent! And making inappropriate comments to women! If this was real life we'd all rightfully bash tf out of him. Just because he’s described as attractive and y'all are hot for him doesn’t make this okay. yikes. If it wasn’t for that he could have been cool.
The Darkling: Don’t really have much to say except to be outraged that some of y’all are like “oh the Darkling could get it he's so secksy
I have a lot to say so let’s get into it!
The Pacing: Like I said, why are both of these books just pages of nothing and then the climax and falling action shoved into the last 30 pages?? There for sure did not need to be that much buildup. Even worse, we read about war strategies and new inventions for hundreds of pages and then Vasily just up and said “come on in!” to the enemy and guess what? They didn't get to use any of that stuff! So what was the point of reading about all that preparation lmaooo.
Alina: As the main character, she did not impress me at all in the first book. Here, she instead fluctuates constantly. I honestly can’t say if I liked her this book or not. Sometimes I was like “yes girl period” and other times I was like “wtf are you doing”. Most of the latter came from the times she was worried about her love life when there were much more important things to be worried about. But her deciding to lead the Second Army and seeing her do that was pretty cool. Basically, Alina minus the romance would have been fun to read about.
Genya: She had kind of a small part, but I need to mention her because I liked her last book. Now? Honestly wtf. She rightfully attacked the king after what he did to her. Alina had been held against her will and killed the people on the skiff out of self defense. So Genya, who had BEEN THROUGH a situation like that, had the nerve to say there was no difference between what Alina did and the Darkling murdering an entire town to prove a point. Make it make sense.
That whole thing just rubbed me the complete wrong way. Don't know if I can stan her again, at least not for a long while.
See, even with a tiny part she managed to follow the "must be annoying at least once" rule of this book.
Nikolai: Okay all the reviews I’ve seen are gushing over this man but like… he’s still problematic! I’m not forgetting him being creepy af and kissing someone without any semblance of consent! And making inappropriate comments to women! If this was real life we'd all rightfully bash tf out of him. Just because he’s described as attractive and y'all are hot for him doesn’t make this okay. yikes. If it wasn’t for that he could have been cool.
The Darkling: Don’t really have much to say except to be outraged that some of y’all are like “oh the Darkling could get it he's so secksy