Published in the summer of 2013, Siege and Storm is the Leigh Bardugo’s follow-up to Shadow and Bone and the middle bridge of the trilogy linking the novel to its sequel, Ruin and Rising. The Grisha Trilogy established Bardugo as a new force to be reckoned with within the wide world of fantasy fiction which, already popular throughout the 20th century, truly exploded into bestselling consciousness for readers in the new millennium.
Unlike either its predecessor or successor, Siege and Storm is essentially a swashbuckling tale dominated by a prince in self-exile who has taken up that most iconic of fantasy career opportunities, captaining a pirate ship. Of course, he refers to it as privateering. That is a questionable distinction, really, because since this entry is the Jan Brady of a more expansive trilogy, the real star of the show remains, as always in this genre, the construction and pursuit of its internal mythology.
That foundation is enhanced, broadened, intensified and explored in a manner sure to maintain the interests of those who leaped into the dark waters of the Grisha Trilogy before it even was a trilogy. Or before there was much dark water, for that matter. This is fantasy series with an overriding obsession with making metaphorical darkness literal and though Siege and Storm pursues that thematic trek in a significantly different way than Shadow and Bone did, darkness remains the ever-present void which must filled without trepidation and with a robust volume of curiosity.
The adaptation of several books by the author into the Shadow and Bone TV series which premiered on Netflix in late April 2021 carries the implicit promise—though not confirmed as of that date—that events which take place in Siege and Storm will be covered in ensuing seasons should the show prove popular enough to warrant a continuation.
