SIEGE AND STORM By Leigh Bardugo

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

SIEGE AND STORM By Leigh BardugoSiege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
Series: The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #2
Published by Henry Holt and Co. on 6/4/13
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 448
Format: Hardcover
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Alina Starkov’s power has grown, but not without a price. She is the Sun Summoner―hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Shadow Fold. But she and Mal can’t outrun their enemies for long.

The Darkling is more determined than ever to claim Alina’s magic and use it to take the Ravkan throne. With nowhere else to turn, Alina enlists the help of an infamous privateer and sets out to lead the Grisha army.

But as the truth of Alina's destiny unfolds, she slips deeper into the Darkling’s deadly game of forbidden magic, and further away from her humanity. To save her country, Alina will have to choose between her power and the love she thought would always be her shelter. No victory can come without sacrifice―and only she can face the oncoming storm.

Short and Sweet Review

Siege and Storm picks up right where Shadow and Bone left off. Alina and Mal are in a small town trying to be discreet but The Darkling locates them anyway. Now Alina and Mal are stuck on a ship with The Darkling, Grisha, and a mysterious pirate named Sturmhond. Sturmhond ends up helping Alina and Mal escape mainly because he has his own motives, Sturmhond ends up being Prince Nikolai. Alina and Nikolai go back to Os Alta to try to bring together the first and second armies so that they’ll have a defense against The Darkling because its only a matter of time before he comes to them.

Siege and Storm was a good sequel, there were a few twists and I think the one that surprised me the most was the one at the end. There’s a bit of a change in Alina, we can see that she enjoys the power that she has now and she uses it to her advantage, some even start comparing her to The Darkling. There’s also some tension between Mal and Alina, Alina wants him to stay but Mal doesn’t feel like he belongs. The anticipation of what The Darkling has planned also his new powers and what kind of destruction he would cause had me flipping pages.

Watching Alina take her place as a leader was great, it was a learning curve. Alina had to deal with a lot, she was now more involved with the royal family, she had visions of The Darkling, and she felt like she was losing Mal. I’m excited to see how everything will end!

CRYSTAL STORM By Morgan Rhodes

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

CRYSTAL STORM By Morgan RhodesCrystal Storm by Morgan Rhodes
Series: Falling Kingdoms #5
Published by Razorbill on 11/14/17
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 416
Format: Hardcover
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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MAGNUS and CLEO are forced to test the strength of their love when Gaius returns to Mytica claiming he's no longer the King of Blood but a changed man seeking redemption.

LUCIA, pregnant with the child of a Watcher, has escaped the clutches of the unhinged fire god. Her powers are dwindling as she goes forth to fulfill a prophecy that will keep her baby safe . . . but could mean her demise.

JONAS treks back to Mytica with a plan to overtake Amara, but fate takes hold when he runs into the beautiful Princess Lucia and joins her on her perilous journey.

AMARA has taken the Mytican throne, but with no way to unleash the water magic trapped within her stolen crystal, she'll never be able to seize glory and get sweet revenge.

Short and Sweet

Cleo and Magnus are traveling with King Gaius a man who says he’s trying to redeem himself. Lucia is also on a path of redemption and is now further along in her pregnancy. Jonas is back in Mytica and plans to overtake Amara. Amara now the empress of Mytica is ready to be powerful and get everything she’s ever wanted.

Characters

Cleo: Cleo is traveling with Magnus and King Gaius to find the bloodstone. Cleo is left out of a lot of plans unfortunately. In the end Cleo remembers that she’s a queen and in the game of politics you have to make bold moves.

Magnus: Magnus is dealing with his father and his new personality which involves showing Magnus how much he cares. Magnus just wants to survive this trip and make sure that Cleo is safe.

Lucia: Princess Lucia, I feel like we didn’t see a lot of her in this book. Well Lucia is pregnant and for a bit of time she’s in the sanctuary learning more about the history of the kindred and the watchers. Lucia wants to try to make things right so she decides that she’s going to put Kyan back into his orb.

Jonas: Jonas is back in Mytica and he wants to over take Amara. Jonas is working with some rebels and is still in an alliance with Magnus. In Paelsia Jonas comes across Lucia and he ends up helping her.

Amara: Amara wants to be powerful and win her people’s admiration. Amara also comes in contact with Kyan and decides to help him but mainly for her own gain.

Romance

Cleo and Magnus: The relationship between Cleo and Magnus is tested in this book. King Gaius tries to keep them away from each other most of the time and he just says the worst things about Cleo. Cleo and Magnus do end up questioning if things could even work out between them, but there’s a lot of moments when they realize that the love they have for each other is stronger.

My Thoughts

~ Most of our characters are all over the place, so I was happy when most of them reunited in Paelsia. We see that King Gaius has a powerful witch for a mother it also reveals why he is the way he is. Gaius’s mother Selia is actually very lethal and she may seem like she’s only worried about Gaius but she does have other plans that the other characters aren’t aware of. Kyan, even though he’s without a body also has big plans which involve a storm and this is what’s involved in the ending which was a big shock to me. I love that Jonas and Lucia met and were able to get to know each other especially after what happened to Lysandra.

Overall

I’m ready to read the last book in the series! This was a great lead up to what I’m thinking is going to be an epic ending!