This review is also on Living for the Books
I was never a huge fan of this series, so going into this book I didn't expect much and I think my expectations were met. Siege and Storm was enjoyable, but it lacked intrigue. The book was over four hundred pages, but it felt like nothing happened.
Unfortunately, the same problem I had with Alina in Shadow and Bone was present in the second book. All she seems to care about is looks. She wonders how her friend Genya could have fallen in love with someone she considers ugly. What a wonderful friend. She also calls Zoya vain and ambitious but she has no right to. Alina is extremely vain and all she wants is more power. I found it ridiculous that she insulted someone like that. Despite that I enjoyed Alina a little bit more in this book because she was powerful and prepared to fight.
Most of this book was spent preparing for war with the Darkling and I found it sort of boring. After Alina and Mal teamed up with Nikolai everything seemed to slow down. It was all about drama between Mal and Alina. The end was probably what brought my rating up because it was intense and definitely the best part of the book.
As I said before, a good portion of the book was taken up by Mal and Alina drama. Those two are extremely insecure about each other and it got on my nerves. Thankfully Nikolai was there to make sarcastic comments and lighten the mood. I love Nikolai and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Nikolai and Alina but I know I prefer him to Mal. Then there's the Darkling. I think he's great villain but I don't like him as a love interest because I think he's creepy. The visions Alina has of him just drive home the fact that he's creepy as hell.
After reading so many glowing reviews for this series, I wanted to fall in love with it, but I just couldn't. I enjoyed it and will probably end up reading the next book, but I doubt that this will ever be one of my favorite series.
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