Siege and Storm
Buchbuzz
Author: Leigh Bardugo Genre: YA Fantasy
Content:
Mal and Alina escaped the Darkling last time, but Alina is still haunted by the people she lost and killed. The Darkling is now even more determined to take Ravka's throne, and Alina does everything in her power to stop him. With the help of a privateer, she leads and prepares the Grisha army. But she grows stronger every day and slowly loses the girl she used to be—and the boy who was always at her side. In the end, she may have to choose between her humanity and her power to save the world.
Review:
In Ruin and Rising, we continue the story of Alina and Mal and their fight against the Darkling. I loved how Leigh Bardugo made Alina's character so complicated. While she had clear character development in the first book, here she develops in a different way. The greed and power hunger woven into her arc was brilliantly done. Sometimes I doubted and even disliked Alina—which may sound bad, but I think that's exactly the reaction Bardugo wanted. As Alina delves deeper into forbidden magic, you can feel what she feels and understand her choices, even when you don't want them for her.
The romance subplot was really… infuriating. I loved Mal and Alina in the first book, so the way they acted toward each other here made me so mad—not sad, which is what I'd hoped to feel.
A new character, Nikolai, is introduced in Ruin and Rising, and I loved him. He's the funny, sarcastic, and charming side character every book needs, and I found myself rooting for him.
The pacing at the beginning and end flowed really well, but the middle dragged a bit. The book focused more on Alina's character, her relationships, and her struggle to settle into her leader role, so the plot felt a bit lost in the middle. That's a shame because the ending was really, really good, and I wish we'd had more of that momentum throughout.
Buchbuzz Rating:
3.5 stars—a good continuation with a character-focused plot. Definitely worth continuing the series, especially for the third book.
