Siege and Storm

Contrary to what I'm seeing I enjoyed this much more than [b:Shadow and Bone 10194157 Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #1) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1339533695l/10194157.SX50.jpg 15093325]! It still falls into the nice box of a very nice albeit super typical YA fantasy except just a tad bit better all thanks to Nikolai! He is the best, he is fantastic. There were some things I didn't fully expect at the start and it was fantastic revisiting some of the locals of Shadow and Bone.The worst part is Mal which is about as an unpopular statement as love for bacon. The other problems are the “YA” part of the series. Alina is great but she's also such a typical “not like the other girls” protagonist that it hurts to read. The jealousy both Mal and her showcase is pretty childish. I was alright with it in Shadow and Bone as that was their introduction but here Alina is THE SUN SUMMONER and should know a bit better. Final problem is the lack of worldbuilding. The Grisha powers are still unexplained beyond a simple “lights, oh also there are mirrors” but it's fine, I don't really mind that.I really liked Siege and Storm! It's not quite 3 stars but not 4 either (half-stars please GR!) but thanks to Nikolai being awesome I'm giving it 4!