Siege and Storm was published by Henry Holt and Company in 2013, the second volume of the Shadow and Bone trilogy. The novel expands the Grishaverse geographically (introducing the seafaring culture of the True Sea and the merchant republic of Kerch, which would become the setting for Six of Crows) and deepens its central tension: Alina’s growing power and its cost.
Alina and Mal have fled Ravka after the events of the first book, but the Darkling — not dead, merely diminished — hunts them. Their capture and escape leads them aboard a ship captained by Sturmhond (a privateer whose real identity is one of the series’ best reveals) and eventually to the sea in search of Rusalye, a mythical sea creature whose bones would amplify Alina’s power.
The novel’s central conflict is internal: Alina’s power grows, and with it grows the temptation to use it absolutely. She is becoming what the Darkling already is — someone for whom ordinary human connections are insufficient, for whom power is its own justification. Her relationship with Mal suffers because he cannot follow where her power takes her, and the question of whether she can remain human while wielding inhuman force drives the narrative toward its dark conclusion.
The siege of the title comes late — the Darkling’s forces surrounding Os Alta — and the novel ends with Alina forced into the public role of saint, worshiped by followers she cannot control.
Collecting Siege and Storm
First edition (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2013): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition in dust jacket: $25–$60
- Signed first edition: $50–$120
- Without jacket: $8–$15