Siege And Storm by Leigh Bardugo

INTRODUCTION

We are often surrounded in situations when our whole life doesn’t make any sense. When we are in a dilemma of whom to trust and whom to not. When we are trying to fit it and suddenly things start changing. And the worst is when our brain and our heart both have different plans for us. The same happened with Alina Starkov in the last part of Shadow and bone book.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Siege and Storm is the second book of the Shadow and bone series and has abundant adventures in it. The story picks up right after where it ended in its previous part. A Lot of new characters await, lots of mysteries have yet to be solved and lots of truths are yet to be discovered.

BLURB

Alina Starkov has escaped from Darkling and is now venturing with his best friend, Mal in isolated places and mountains. Not only does she fear getting discovered but her heart is also in debate of whether the things said about the fold and Darkling was right or not. And the Darkling who is clearly not happy with the deception of Alina, will not rest unless he finds her, now that his powers are increased.

But on this journey of escaping and finding, Alina and Mal both meet a crew of sailors whose head is a privateer. Not only the sailors possess high abilities which may help her in this journey but the privateer too itself is someone possessing extraordinary talents. Will Alina be able to save Ravka from the destruction which might follow now or will she choose her’s and Mal’s survival over her nation…

THEMES

A lot of themes have left a deep impact after they have been discussed in the book. Following are some of them:

● Power – despite having an abundance of power it’s always upon us whether we want to manipulate them or make good use of them. Darkling used his power to overthrow the king and to build his own army however throughout the book Alina was seen struggling with keeping herself on the right side even if it meant risking her own life.

● Not letting anyone change who you are – there were instances when different characters were influenced by others but they still didn’t go in a wrong direction nor did they let anyone change who they actually were.

● Love, friendship and betrayal – the whole story revolves around these three themes and till the very end the readers are uncertain as to what will happen.

CHARACTERS

The characters from the previous books remain but a lot of new and breathtaking ones are added too:

● Alina Starkov – from being a shy girl to the most powerful woman, Alina is someone who I think every girl will look at . Though she may not know who to trust or even love, she certainly does know that she will do whatever it takes to free Ravka of the Shadow fold.

● Mal Oretsev – a genuine friend/ lover who once again showed that no matter what happens he will be there. And he is not just any ordinary soldier…

● Darkling – someone who totally worships power. And also someone who dares not to give up anytime soon.

● Zoya Nazyalensky – someone who is one of the most powerful Grishas who knows the consequences of choosing to stand against the Darkling and she is one of the first ones to do so.

● Nikolai Lantsov – a privateer and someone with an abundance of knowledge related to science. Though being a prince he never had it easy.

BEST LINES

● When people say impossible, they usually mean improbable.

● Weakness is a guise. Wear it when they need to know you’re human, but never when you feel it.

● The less you say, the more weight your words will carry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Leigh Bardugo is an author who is most loved by fantasy readers. Not only did she create the most beautiful fantasy world i.e. the Grishaverse but also gave the readers a story worth re-reading and characters worth missing. Truly she is a queen of the fantasy genre.

CONCLUSION

A story which not only focuses on character growth of the first book characters but also introduces a lot of new and interesting characters. Not only that but the story also shows new fantasy creations. The book can be summed up into- politics, strategies, survival and never ending thrill.