Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (2088)

Content

Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated Siege and Storm in Books

Jan 23, 2020

Siege and Storm

Leigh Bardugo | 2013 | Young Adult (YA)

8.0

(24 Ratings)

Book Rating

I have completely mixed feelings about Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone trilogy. So mixed, I was scared of reading Siege and Storm, despite the fact the librarian pretty much promised the entire series gets better by the book.

The second book in the Grisha Trilogy is certainly better than <a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-shadow-and-bone-by-leigh-bardugo/"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shadow and Bone</a> – whereas Alina Starkov (aka Sun Summoner) was overly mopey for a good part of the first book (to the point where I started calling her Mopey), Alina is less mopey this time around. A fantastic turnaround, because I don't think I can handle Starkov being mopey for two books. Instead, our fabulous Sun Summoner "Saint" is a little more... overconfident. Spunky (but that's what I've always like about Alina). And definitely in control of the situation, even if it's not in her favor and there are unpleasant rumors about her floating among the Grisha and everyone else.

But even though Alina is in control of the situation for the most part, there's somehow not a love triangle, but a love square surrounding Saint Sun Summoner.

Boy #1 (Mal): My least favorite corner, Mal wasn't a terrible character back in Shadow and Bone – I actually liked Mal a little. I particularly liked his interactions and dialogue with Alina. In the sequel though... he turns into Adrian Ivashkov 1.0 (HOPEFULLY 1.0).

Boy #2 (Darkling): I shipped Alina and the Darkling back in book one... until the end. The Darkling doesn't grace us readers in Siege and Storm as much as he does in Shadow and Bone, but he's really just that one desperate dude with the way he constantly tells Alina that there's no else like them and that they "belong together."

Boy #3 (Nikolai): My third least favorite corner (aka my favorite corner), despite the fact Nikolai is probably going to end up as one of my favorite characters in the entire trilogy after I read Ruin and Rising. Nikolai's two things: arrogant and adorable. Arrogant because seeing as he's royalty, he'll obviously have a big head of sorts (but not too big). Adorable because of his conversations and dialogue with Alina – I pretty much ship them... even if Nikolai probably likes her for political purposes.

The world building, as it was in the first, is spectacular – Imperial Russia spectacularized into fantasy. The concept is phenomenal and a fantastic pitch – even though I have mixed feelings about the entire series altogether, the Grisha Trilogy definitely deserves the hype and praise.

The trilogy so far is essentially Alina running, getting caught, and running again (with attacks and whatnot in between) – if that's the case for the first and second book, I'm definitely scared of reading the last book now. It could go extremely ugly – down the rabbit hole – or extremely well – mind = blown.

<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-siege-and-storm-by-leigh-bardugo/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>

Kudos

Man of Steel and Honour: General Stanislaw Maczek: Soldier of Poland, Commander of the 1st Polish Armoured Division in North-West Europe 1944-45

Evan McGilvray

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

This is a biography of one of the most undervalued commanders of the Second World War, General...

Wild Hunt

Games and Sports

(0 Ratings) Rate It

App

Wild Hunt: Sport Hunting Game 3D is world's most realistic hunting simulator and best free hunting...

World Prayer Time

Reference and Travel

(0 Ratings) Rate It

App

600,000+ downloads !!!!!! App Features ------------ - Imsak, Fajr, Sunrise, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib...

BookInspector (124 KP) rated A Present from India in Books

Sep 24, 2020

A Present from India

M.J. Carreyette | 2016 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry

4.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

When I started reading this book, it did not hook me, and that remained till the end of the book. The main characters of the book were mother whose name was Eva and her half Indian, half English daughter Dee. I really admired Eva’s character in this book. She was like an old wise owl, I liked that, at least now she was wise and made good decisions.(what I wouldn’t say about her study days) Unfortunately I found Dee quite stupid and annoying, with her silly decisions and being stubborn with those not logical wishes she makes in the book. Because of these real life character features I found them both to be very realistic and believable, there are many mixed marriages in the UK and I liked the diversity of the characters.

As it was mentioned in the description, there are two stories told of two generations. It is the trip to India which is happening at present and a time spent in Moscow in 1977. I really loved reading about Eva's time in Moscow; it was really interesting to me. I enjoyed all the details author told about Moscow. I think that's where authors experience comes in, she studied in Moscow during seventies herself, that's why she was able to portray the city and the atmosphere of those days quite accurate. The relationship Chandra was having with Eva was really complicated and for me it kept the suspense going, that's why I used to get excited once those chapters used to come up. Unfortunately the Indian trip was not very interesting to read for me. I think in many places there was too much detail which was not necessary. What drinks they had and what food they ate, I was not very interested in that. The characters wanted to see real India, but what was written in the book was far from the real India. Living in a hotel and travelling first class is not real India experience. It seemed like a tour which most probably author had, and this was the way to share the experience. As person who saw and lived in everyday Indian conditions, I can assure, it’s not like it was in the book. Even though I didn't really enjoy the parts of India voyage, it made me want to take my mother there. I liked the relationship which Eva and Dee shared during that trip.

I liked the writing style of this novel; it has this lovely English way: refined and polite, avoiding conflict. I am a big fan of short chapters, or long chapters divided into smaller, so the length of the chapters was not my favourite part in this book as well. They were long and too boring sometimes. Another thing I really enjoyed, was the ending of this book. It was unexpected to me and made sense why the novel was written in the way it was. So to conclude, if you never visited India and have interest in Soviet history, you will enjoy this book and will find some exotic places and interesting way of living in 1970ties Russia.