Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Summary from Goodreads

Darkness never dies. Alina and Mal are on the run. Hunted and haunted, but together at last, they can't outrun Alina's past or her destiny forever. The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and he needs Alina to realise his dangerous plan. There are others who would like to use Alina's gift too. And as her power grows, somehow, she must choose between her country, her power, and her love - or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm. Glorious. Epic. Irresistible. Romance. Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and Laini Taylor.

Paperback, 386 pages

Published June 6th 2013 by Indigo (An Imprint of Orion Publishing) (first published June 4th 2013)

My Review

Siege and Storm is a fabulous sequel to the epic Shadow and Bone - which I devoured a little while ago! I most definitely wasn't disappointed, Leigh Bardugo brought the awesome yet again!

I was immediately drawn back into this dark and very alluring world. I sat completely hooked and on the very edge of my seat. Bardugo writes with spectacular ease and manages to spin the most delicious tale of light, dark and everything in between!

Alina and Mal have managed to escape the clutches of the deadly Darkling. They are on a ship, captained by a bit of a trickster called, Sturmhond, who never seems to tell the truth. But you can't hope to run forever from a man who will hunt you until the very end of the earth....

The epic battle scenes were raging and were played out to absolute perfection. I loved the atmosphere on board the ship and the most fascinating characters I found there.

Sturmhond is such a swoony guy, he's a man of many faces and depending on the situation you can never be sure which guise you will be subjected to. I loved him and actually felt that he would be the perfect love mach for, Alina.

Alina grew so beautifully as a character throughout this story. She matured, became more thoughtful and transformed into such a fierce leader - a true force to be reckoned with! I really could of given her a little shake when she hid things from Mal though, it was frustrating because he would forgive and accept virtually anything for her.

Everything bumped along at a wicked pace, with big shocking revelations, gorgeous emotional scenes, chilling moments and edge of your seat action. The ending blew my mind completely - I was in awe with how things played out so unexpectedly.

Siege and Storm is an absolute must read 2nd instalment. It is written to heightened perfection and while I didn't like the absence of a certain shadow man, I still loved the story overall. I actually cannot contain my excitement for the 3rd book - eeekkk!

I have sooo many favourite quotes here are a couple:

"The hunger struck suddenly. I want them, I thought. All that light, all that power. I want it all."

"There are no others like us, Alina," he whispered. "And there never will be."

And here is my Grisha Army quote:

 4.5 / 5 Stars!

*With special thanks to Indigo for the review copy*