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A review by maxinercd
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
3.0
OH. MY. GOD. Is it possible to hate a fictional character this much?
Something that is really appreciable with [a:Leigh Bardugo|4575289|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg]'s writing in this trilogy (except the amazing universe of course) is that her characters are human in all senses of the word, they make mistakes, they aren't always sure of what they're doing, they're not always perfectly moral and good... Unfortunately, sometimes there are humans that you just hate. And that's when it comes to Mal.
Okay, so I didn't like the first volume of this series as much as I thought I would but I decided I would still give the second volume a shot. What a di-sa-ppoint-ment. Literally NOTHING happens in this novel, except Mal being :
1) omnipresent
2) overly jealous and possessive
3) toxic and manipulative
Of course, I'm not going to spit in his face without some explanation. The guy is literally making Alina feeling guilty of no longer being the powerless and insignificant orphan as he always knew her to be, being completely jealous of her power, feeling useless (as he should, sorry but... heh) and trying to change her. How selfish is that when we take into account that she is only trying to save her country?
And then, after being jealous of Alina herself, he is jealous of absolutely every guy around her (once again, as he should... I mean have you seen how charismatic the Darkling and Nikolai are?), as if she were some kind of object he possessed. Ahem excuse me Mal, but where have you been all this time when Alina still didn't know she was Grisha? Oh yes that's right, you didn't care about her.
So that's when I move on to their actual relationship. Is that even love? I don't think so. I mean, Alina never knew what love was before, Mal was simply the only man she knew and she grew up with him, so necessarily she loved him, but I don't think she actually was in love with him, simply with the image of him she built up. Otherwise, why would she fall for every other guy she met after him? Cause, let's be honest here : she had feelings for the Darkling and she did as well for Nikolai. I simply think (and this is heavily hinted throughout this novel) that she had some kind of emotional dependency, in the sense that she did not love herself enough not to need someone by her side (which is sad, because, as much as I ship her with Nikolai, I think she would have been so much more badass if she just dumped Mal and ended up alone).
And I mean, what kind of relationship is this? Instead of communicating, toxic little Mal is just turning his back on her, drowning himself in alcohol and engaging in fights. Oh and yes, kissing other girls (behind Alina's back of course), so much for someone jealous! Let's not forget that he kissed the one girl who was bullying Alina back in the first volume, but did Mal know that? No, because when Alina mentioned it he simply didn't care!
Anyways, this isn't against [a:Leigh Bardugo|4575289|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg] of course, because she also created amazing characters such as Nikolai, whom I'd very like to marry, and (sorry Alina but) who DOES have always the right thing to say. Give me a lot of him, mixed with more Genya and the Darkling and spiced up with some action and the third volume will be a 4/5 (a 5/5 if you kill Mal)!
Something that is really appreciable with [a:Leigh Bardugo|4575289|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg]'s writing in this trilogy (except the amazing universe of course) is that her characters are human in all senses of the word, they make mistakes, they aren't always sure of what they're doing, they're not always perfectly moral and good... Unfortunately, sometimes there are humans that you just hate. And that's when it comes to Mal.
Okay, so I didn't like the first volume of this series as much as I thought I would but I decided I would still give the second volume a shot. What a di-sa-ppoint-ment. Literally NOTHING happens in this novel, except Mal being :
1) omnipresent
2) overly jealous and possessive
3) toxic and manipulative
Of course, I'm not going to spit in his face without some explanation. The guy is literally making Alina feeling guilty of no longer being the powerless and insignificant orphan as he always knew her to be, being completely jealous of her power, feeling useless (as he should, sorry but... heh) and trying to change her. How selfish is that when we take into account that she is only trying to save her country?
And then, after being jealous of Alina herself, he is jealous of absolutely every guy around her (once again, as he should... I mean have you seen how charismatic the Darkling and Nikolai are?), as if she were some kind of object he possessed. Ahem excuse me Mal, but where have you been all this time when Alina still didn't know she was Grisha? Oh yes that's right, you didn't care about her.
So that's when I move on to their actual relationship. Is that even love? I don't think so. I mean, Alina never knew what love was before, Mal was simply the only man she knew and she grew up with him, so necessarily she loved him, but I don't think she actually was in love with him, simply with the image of him she built up. Otherwise, why would she fall for every other guy she met after him? Cause, let's be honest here : she had feelings for the Darkling and she did as well for Nikolai. I simply think (and this is heavily hinted throughout this novel) that she had some kind of emotional dependency, in the sense that she did not love herself enough not to need someone by her side (which is sad, because, as much as I ship her with Nikolai, I think she would have been so much more badass if she just dumped Mal and ended up alone).
And I mean, what kind of relationship is this? Instead of communicating, toxic little Mal is just turning his back on her, drowning himself in alcohol and engaging in fights. Oh and yes, kissing other girls (behind Alina's back of course), so much for someone jealous! Let's not forget that he kissed the one girl who was bullying Alina back in the first volume, but did Mal know that? No, because when Alina mentioned it he simply didn't care!
Anyways, this isn't against [a:Leigh Bardugo|4575289|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg] of course, because she also created amazing characters such as Nikolai, whom I'd very like to marry, and (sorry Alina but) who DOES have always the right thing to say. Give me a lot of him, mixed with more Genya and the Darkling and spiced up with some action and the third volume will be a 4/5 (a 5/5 if you kill Mal)!