Rating: 2/5 
 ***Minor spoilers, spoilers for book 1*** 
 On the run from the Darkling, Alina and Mal coop up in a small town and are doing work for small amounts of money and desiring to rebuild their lives as new people. That plan doesn't do very well, though, because the Darkling, who is hunting another of the strongest amplifiers, finds them and brings them onto a ship owned by Sturmhond, a famous privateer, and they are both kept prisoner. The Darkling thinks he has Sturmhond's loyalty, but the truth is that a higher price was offered to him to betray the Darkling, and Sturmhond takes his own crew, revolts against the Darkling's Grisha, and escapes with Mal and Alina, who will be taken to West Ravka. But after Alina retrieves the second of Morozova's amplifiers, her mind seems to be slowly breaking down. 
 I thought this book was pretty disappointing. I really loved Shadow and Bone, so I was expecting a lot from Siege and Storm but for me, it just didn't deliver. I feel like I didn't read this in the right frame of mind, perhaps, because it seems that so many other people loved it. For me, it just felt like a mess of drama and silliness in some places, and all the action happened at the very beginning and very end, with the middle feeling like a whole lot of filler. 
 To be honest, I don't really like Alina being with Mal. Mal seems so dramatic, doesn't understand what Alina is going through, and is quick to blame Alina for anything that is happening between them. Yes, he made a lot of sacrifices for her and he clearly loves her, but I find that stuff pointless if all he's going to do is distrust her love for him. He liked to storm around and get mad a lot and whenever he's mad he does reckless stuff he shouldn't be doing and it got tiring to read about. I wanted action in this one, but it felt like so much of the book was about Mal, and Mal was getting on my nerves with their "romance." 
 The bits I did like of this book were at the beginning and end. I liked that we were thrust right into the action at the beginning, but at the same time I had no time to adjust to the differences in the characters before I was thrown into a kidnapping and battle. Then, by the time of the final battle at the end I felt too bored by the middle of the book. So the pacing felt really off to me, with the exciting stuff happening only at a few places and not spaced throughout. 
 Overall, this wasn't an entirely bad read, but it was a disappointing one, for me at least. I wanted more action and excitement, but the middle was quite boring and full of an angsty romance that I didn't enjoy. While I will definitely be reading the third book, I'll made sure that I don't go in with super high hopes.