The darkness has fully descended, and the darkness will not die. The only way to combat it is with light, and hope. But both of those commodities fall few and far between. This is how we open with Leigh Bardugo's sequel to Shadow and Bone. Additional characters join the fight against the Darkling, and readers start to understand just how strong the pull for power truly is. How much further is Alina willing to go to defeat the Darkling, and to satisfy the need of feeling fully complete?Leigh Bardugo is a #1 New York Times Bestselling author of fantasy novels, her most notable being those involved with the Grishaverse. Those include the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, The Language of Thorns, King of Scars and The Lives of Saints. She's also received critical acclaim for her novel, Ninth House, which, along with some of the Grishaverse books, will be soon coming to TV! If you're interested in more of my reviews of Leigh Bardugo's work, you can find them all here.
Alina Starkov, the orphaned Grisha who uncovered her unique sun summoning powers, has just escaped the Darkling at the beginning of this sequel. Her and the boy she loves are trying to evade the Darkling, but he does find them, and demonstrates something truly terrifying: a new, almost unbeatable, new part of his power. With the help of a privateer, Alina and Mal escape the Darkling and go back to Ravka, where Alina is determined to serve her country right. The burning buildup of politics and diplomacy is shadowed by the Darkling's eventual return and Alina's obsessive behavior towards finding the third amplifier to her power. But when the Darkling comes back to Ravka to face this new army, will Alina have it in her to kill him?
Alina, often referred to as a Saint of a Daughter of Ravka, but she's truly anything but. She's transformed from a scared girl into a girl capable of using her Grisha power. She never thought that she was anything special, but once she proved her own self-worth by escaping the Darkling several times, she becomes a more confident version of herself. This lets her see what she truly wants, and she finds herself reaching for those goals. Of course, her character is influenced by her using the amplifiers, powerful objects that amplify her Grisha abilities. Once she learns that there are three amplifiers, she dedicates part of this book to searching for the third one. She feels incomplete without the third amplifier, and we see that her character shifts to revolve around this emptiness around her. Her character also adapts to the Saint title. Especially near the end (no worries, no spoilers!) she decides to act like a saint to save the rest of her people: selflessly. Her character is a study in tensions: orphaned girl or powerful Grisha? Stay in the shadows or shine brightly? Power or mercy? Obsessive tendencies or staying true to her old self? A saint, or a selfish leader? These are all tensions Alina pulls on throughout the novel, and she chooses different answers at different times, but it all culminates into the truly complex character that Alina is.
Mal is such an interesting character to me. Usually, when heroes make their grand entrance, they leave everything from their old life behind, but not Alina. She's determined that Mal cross over into this new territory with her, even though they both wish for things to go back to a normal that can no longer exist. Mal and Alina adapt to the Little Palace differently, and it's fascinating for them both to study each other. Mal doesn't adapt very well, despite how Alina always describes Mal as someone who could fit in anywhere. But Mal wasn't made to fit in at the Little Palace, because he's not a Grisha like the rest of them. It's truly interesting to watch how Alina's and Mal's relationship evolves throughout the course of the novel because of all the tension Mal feels at the Little Palace, and because he recognizes that Alina is changing. Mal has changed too, because of these experiences since Alina has uncovered her power. Their relationship doesn't seem to survive very well under all this strain, and especially because jealousy creeps in with the entrance of Prince Perfect.
That privateer I mentioned earlier? Well, he goes by Sturmhond, but he's really Prince Nikolai Lantsov of Ravka. After a few chapters in which Alina and Mal are alarmed at his deceit, all readers find themselves falling in love with the charming yet clever prince. Who wouldn't? Nikolai is determined to help Alina and Mal, especially if that helps him reach his own goals. Alina doesn't fully trust Nikolai, but only because she doesn't fully trust anyone. Nikolai is a fan favorite, because he's charming but also because he has these truly beautiful moments of vulnerability for someone so confident. And Nikolai is confident -- he was basically born confident, and with the ability to take so many faces. But it's refreshing to see that Nikolai has his doubts, and that he trusts Alina enough to show that to her. It certainly makes for a well-rounded cast, but also sheds light on why Bardugo would have taken the time to dedicate a new duology to him.
Ravka is a place where the colors you wear -- status -- mean more than any good deed (much like our own world, no?). But in Siege and Storm, Ravka and its hierarchies take a more concrete form as Bardugo explores the people on top and the implications they have for everyone at the bottom. Bardugo expands on this fantasy world, and not just physically by including more of the map on the earliest pages, but by expanding our understanding of the way this world works. Alina's re-entrance to Ravka means an entrance into Ravka's political system, and changing the traditional ways Grisha fit in. Alina and Nikolai, if they have any fighting chance at defeating the Darkling, have to make alliances with the surrounding countries, alliances which mirror our own. Oftentimes, the second book in a trilogy can fall victim to these world-building schemes, and the plot seems to disappear behind the folds, but that's not really the case with Siege and Storm. Rather, Bardugo makes her characters utilize these systems as they begin to build forces against the Darkling, so readers learn about them but also so that the plot marches forward.
And of course Alina keeps marching forward, hoping against hope that she can defeat the Darkling. After losing Nikolai in battle, and wishing she herself was dead at the end of it all, hope doesn't really pervade the situation, but with Mal by her side, Alina can at least try. Even if she's made a horrendous discovery about her own power. Stay tuned for my review of the final book in the Shadow and Bone trilogy, Ruin and Rising!
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