Siege and Storm follows on from Shadow and Bone with Alina continuing to learn the magnitude of her power, and running away from Ravka, and the Darkling, with her childhood friend Mal. When things go wrong, Alina finds herself on a ship with a famous pirate who turns out to be more than his first impression.

For the most part, I really loved this book. Learning about how the ending of Shadow and Bone treated others, and the Darkling's new powers were exciting and I really loved the addition of Sturmhond and Nikolai (NIKOLAI <3). There were several great characters introduced that I really couldn't get enough of but I can definitely see why some people complain about how so much well, didn't happen in Siege and Storm. Once Alina gets back to Os Halta, it seems like things slowed down a lot. I feel like the majority of what happened when Alina was back in the palace could have been wrapped up a lot quicker.

And omg Mal needs to go away because I really don't like him but I know that's not the case because in these situations, the character normally ends up with the first guy and I hate that. I didn't realise another male character could beat Gale in being so damnright judgey and annoying. But at least Gale had a bit of class. The country is about to be thrown into chaos and darkness, yet Mal would have walked away without looking back if Alina had said "let's go." HOW can you love someone like that? Someone willing to let everyone else, villagers, soldiers, nobility, die so you can be with the girl you claim to love yet you don't accept every part of her. Mal never accepted that Alina was Grisha, not really, and I feel like he punishes her for it again and again. And of course, the answer to Alina trying to solve the war and not paying every bit of attention is to go off and get drunk and punch people. Yeah, real smart Mal. Go away and make room for Nikolai cause unlike you he has a bit of class and decency. I'm not actually sure if anyone really likes Mal? Because I haven't seen anyone and I find that a bit of a tell-tale sign of how awful his character is. I'm sick of male love interests punishing a woman for her powers and ,manipulating her into dropping everything to be with them. Go have your penis envy somewhere else and let the women save the world, okay? RANT OVER.

Overall, the ending was pretty good. It was brutal, fast-paced but again, Mal basically could have saved everyone by letting Alina get rid of the Darkling and he didn't. I know he had his reasons, like not wanting her to die, but still. The entire country is at stake here!