I’m worried for what’s going to happen in the final chapter of her journey. Alina is changing due to her increased power and I’m worried for her. The relationship between Alina and Mal developed rapidly. There’s still a chance that he’ll die in Ruin and Rising, and with the amount of death threats and how many times he’s been used as a pawn so far in this series, I would not be surprised. I’ve already expressed my profound love for Mal, and was overjoyed to know that my prophecies for his future have not come true, at least for this book anyway. Seriously? Three guys in love with her at once? Apparently so. He also acts as another tier to out love triangle.

He’s exactly what the – rather depressing at that point, if I’m honest – plot line needed. I think the only word I mastered effectively was ‘sobaka.’ Sturmhond is something else entirely and one of my favourite characters. We’re introduced to a new character ‘Sturmhond.’ I’ll admit that I kept tripping over the pronunciation when reading, but it wasn’t as bad as when I tried to sound out the Russian. However, she is still a teenager and there is still room for improvement and lesson learning, which I can only hope accumulates in the final installment. For a girl who’s had greatness thrust upon her she’s working up to the image of Sankta Alina in an incredibly mature way. She’s still got her moral compass in tact and she’s making decisions that benefit more than just her. But she can still work out what is right and what is wrong. She’s developed from the first book, but perhaps not in the way I wanted her to. Who knew, right? Once again Alina proves to be strong and confident. For a fantasy novel, I thought it would be quiet dense, but the first person narrative from our teenage protagonist still somehow manages to make murder and power plays upbeat. The way the story is told sucks the reader in completely. There is some happiness, but not much so it makes for an intense read to say the least. I have to say that I thought this was going to be the case up until half way through.

As with a few ‘middle’ books they just seem to serve the purpose of turning a duology into a trilogy. By this I mean that it’s mostly travel, and there isn’t a lot going on.

I hypothesized that Siege and Storm would be a ‘getting there’ book. Although we weren’t left on a cliffhanger per say, in Shadow and Bone, and you could probably read the first book in the series and be done with it, I would not recommend a hasty finish. Again, with such a beautiful cover the writing can only be wonderful too. The sequel to Shadow and Bone was just as good, if not better, than it’s predecessor.

Siege and storm series order