Siege and Storm — Shadow and Bone, Book 2

Siege and Storm Review

Siege and Storm picks up immediately after the first book, with Alina and Mal fleeing across Ravka’s borders. Bardugo wastes little time establishing the new status quo: Alina’s power is growing, her relationship with Mal is under strain, and the Darkling — presumed dead — is building something new from the remnants of his power.

The most significant addition to the series is Nikolai Lantsov, the prince travelling incognito as the privateer Sturmhond. Bardugo clearly delighted in writing him — he is witty, strategically brilliant, and impossible to entirely trust — and his introduction reshapes the series’ political landscape. The love triangle that emerges is less about romantic competition and more about Alina’s competing visions of what she could become.

What works: The expansion of Ravka’s politics and military structure gives the world real weight. The amplifier mythology deepens. Nikolai is an instant series highlight — readers who fall for him here have two books of significant page time to look forward to.

What to expect: The middle-volume structure is apparent — this is a bridge book, and it feels like one at times. The pacing slows in the middle third. The ending, however, sets up Ruin and Rising with genuine urgency.

Verdict: A solid second volume that serves the series well. The introduction of Nikolai alone justifies the read.

Series Reading Order

1. Shadow and Bone
2. Siege and Storm ← you are here
3. Ruin and Rising

The Six of Crows duology is set in the same world but follows different characters and can be read independently after completing this trilogy.

Reading Guides

• Leigh Bardugo Books in Order: Complete Grishaverse Reading Guide (2026)

What Distinguishes This Book

Among the qualities that set Siege and Storm apart: Nikolai’s introduction is one of Bardugo’s finest character arrivals — fully formed, impossible to entirely trust, immediately beloved; Ravka’s military politics and expanded world-building give the setting real weight and consequence; The love triangle is handled as competing visions of Alina’s future rather than mere romantic competition; and The ending sets up Ruin and Rising with genuine urgency and thematic clarity. These strengths are evident from the first pages and sustain across the whole work.

Themes

The thematic concerns of Siege and Storm give it weight beyond its surface narrative. The most interesting love triangles are not about who the protagonist loves but about who they want to become. Power attracts people who want to use it — a person who gains influence must decide what they will protect it for. The middle book of a trilogy succeeds by expanding the world’s stakes rather than simply advancing the plot. A charismatic secondary character can reshape a series’ emotional landscape across multiple books. These ideas emerge from the texture of the work rather than explicit statement, which is the mark of ambitious fiction done well.

Series Context

By 2 in the series, Leigh Bardugo has built enough world and character depth to sustain a story that would be impossible in a standalone. The accumulated reader investment pays off here: stakes feel genuine because the world feels real. The book does what good middle-series entries must — it satisfies on its own terms while clearly advancing toward a larger conclusion.

Limitations

The middle-volume structure is apparent — the book functions as a bridge and sometimes feels like one. Pacing slows noticeably in the middle third before recovering for the final act. Alina’s decision-making can frustrate readers who want a more proactive protagonist at this stage of the story. These are worth knowing before starting, though they are unlikely to diminish the experience for the readers the book is written for.

Nikolai Lantsov: What Makes Him Work

Nikolai Lantsov — introduced here under the alias Sturmhond, privateer — is Bardugo’s most purely entertaining creation and one of the reasons the Grishaverse expanded beyond the initial trilogy. What makes him work is the combination of surface charm and genuine strategic intelligence, each of which would be insufficient without the other. A charming character who is not actually clever quickly exhausts his welcome; a strategist without charisma is functional but not memorable. Nikolai is both, and Bardugo establishes this from his first pages.

He is also one of the more politically sophisticated figures in the YA fantasy canon. His management of the gap between his public persona — the rogue prince, the privateer, the irreverent younger son — and his actual project of shoring up Ravka’s security is handled with enough specificity that it reads as strategy rather than mere characterization. The reader understands why Nikolai behaves as he does even when the surrounding characters do not.

Readers who fall in love with Nikolai here will find two more substantial appearances: his own duology, beginning with King of Scars (2019), gives him the depth his cameos promised.

The Amplifier Mythology

Siege and Storm introduces the second amplifier and deepens the trilogy’s mythology around them. Amplifiers are objects derived from the bodies of extraordinary creatures, and they augment Grisha power when worn. The Darkling’s original amplifier gave him his power; Alina’s stag bone from the first novel gave her a version of power she was not prepared to wield. The sea creature at the center of this novel’s action opens the question of how many amplifiers exist and what it would mean for a single Grisha to wear more than one.

Bardugo uses the amplifier mythology carefully. The question of whether Alina should seek the third amplifier — the firebird — is also the question of whether she should pursue power that might consume her identity in the process of giving her the ability to fight the Darkling. The series is interested in power as a corrupting force precisely because the people who need it most are the ones least equipped to refuse it.

Alina at the Little Palace

Alina’s return to the Little Palace, this time as the Sun Summoner rather than an unknown orphan, is one of the book’s most interesting structural choices. She has been to the palace before; she understands its politics; and yet she is now occupying a position in those politics that changes everything she previously understood about how the place works. The Darkling’s absence has created a power vacuum that several factions are competing to fill, and Alina — who did not come to this wanting power — finds herself having to wield it to survive.

Her relationship with Mal is under pressure throughout, not because either character has done anything wrong but because they are being shaped by circumstances into different people. Mal, who was Alina’s anchor in Grey Ravka, struggles to find a role in a world where she is the most important person in the room. Bardugo treats this dynamic honestly rather than resolving it artificially.

Setting Up the Conclusion

Siege and Storm’s final act accelerates everything. The Darkling’s new power — and the new kind of soldier he has created — raises the stakes beyond anything the first novel staged. The ending delivers both an emotional gut punch and a clear propulsive momentum toward Ruin and Rising. For middle volumes, which often feel like obligations rather than pleasures, this is a significant achievement.

Final Verdict

Our rating: 4.1/5 — The middle volume of the Grisha trilogy broadens the world considerably. Nikolai’s introduction is the highlight — one of Bardugo’s most beloved characters arriving fully formed — and the military politics of Ravka add texture to what was a more intimate first book.