fiona ☁️'s Reviews > Siege and Storm

🌊 SOUNDTRACK 🌊

Zella Day - Shadow Preachers
Florence + The Machine - No Light, No Light
Maria Mena - Homeless
Daughter - Burn It Down

I made a full playlist on my spotify @fionamatilda :)

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🌊 REREAD 2021 🌊

Despite the semi-critical tone of my old review, some definite pacing issues and Mal being a bit of a doormat, this book has turned out to be my favourite of the series over the last few years. Not only does it introduce us to the one and only Nikolai Lantsov, to whom I'd literally give my life, but there's always been something about it - maybe the pirates, maybe the politics, maybe Leigh's snarky dialogue getting better and better - that fills me with a particular fondness. And I'm very happy to say that this fondness has officially survided the reread.
Oh and it also has one of my favourite quotes of all time:

⚜ "The less you say, the more weight your words will carry." ⚜

These words of wisdom, spoken by none other than my boy Nikolai, were actually my yearbook quote the year I graduated highschool, a place I mostly associate with the majority of people calling me "quiet" and just letting this one small word fill out their whole image of me, without ever allowing me to change it. This quote always made me feel incredibly seen and empowered, turning quietness into something other than just a weird character trait, a liability, something that set me apart, something I, for whatever reason, should not be. So yeah, maybe this plays into my fondness as well. Thank you, Leigh, for making me realize there can be strength in staying quiet.

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🌊 REVIEW 2018 🌊

I'm still having an inner debate with myself on wether I liked this book more than the first one, or less

Things I liked about this book:

- NIKOLAI. GIVE ME MORE NIKOLAI.
- it has pirates in it. Sassy pirates. I love me some sassy pirates.
- the atmospheric russian folklore vibe was just as on point as in the first book
- Leighs writing is still perfection
- the few scenes with the Darkling were also on point and didn't change my love for him
(Person: "But.. he's evil and a mass murderer and manipulative!!!! And did I say EVIL??"
Me: " I'm perfectly aware of that. And I don't give a shit." *flips hair*)
- The characters and their inner struggles were explored more and therefore even more authentic than in the first book
- Did I mention Nikolai? (adding him to the story was one of the best decisions Leigh could've made tbh)

Things that kiiiind of annoyed me:

- Alina's and Mal's endless relationship crisis
- Mal being whiny and self-absorbed
(Don't get me wrong, I don't HATE him as much as so many others seem to do, I liked him just fine in book 1, but this time he annoyed the heck out of me)
- the plot dragged
- a lot
- I mean the beginning and the ending were amazingness, but in between? it was literally just Alina sitting around and being self - pitying or Alina running after Mal who's being self - pitying too
- for, like, 150 pages
- too much self pitying, NOT NEARLY ENOUGH SCENES WITH THE DARKLING. (when he showed up it was great tho. But, I mean, he appeared, like, two or three times during the whole book??? he's one of the most interesting and complex characters in the series and I need more of him)

Overall, I still really enjoyed this one and most of it's characters, despite it's flaws, and I'll definitely read the last book (even though I got spoiled and am well aware that it is going to be my death, but apparently I like making myself suffer)

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FAVORITE QUOTES:

"The less you say, the more weight your words will carry."

"Weakness is a guise. Wear it when they need to know you're human, but never when you feel it."

"When people say impossible, they usually mean improbable."

"Watch yourself, Nikolai," Mal said softly. "Princes bleed just like other men."
Nikolai plucked an invisible piece of dust from his sleeve. "Yes," he said. "They just do it in better clothes."

"Why won't you leave me alone?" I whispered one night as he hovered behind me while I tried to work at my desk.
Long minutes passed. I even had time to hope he might have gone, until I felt his hand on my shoulder.
"Then I'd be alone, too," he said, and he stayed the whole night through, till the lamps burned down to nothing.

"Anything worth doing always starts as a bad idea."

"Do you ever answer a question directly?" -
"Hard to say. Ah, there, I've done it again."

"I am perfectly capable of being stupid on my own."

I got used to seeing him waiting for me at the end of the corridors, or sitting at the edge of my bed when I fell asleep at night.
When he didn't appear, sometimes I found myself looking for him or wondering why he didn't come, and that frightened me most of all.

"Do you take anything seriously?" -
"Not if I can help it. Makes life so tedious."