Siege and Storm recap

Hiding across the sea with Mal, Alina is captured by the Darkling, who has survived and now commands terrible shadow soldiers. He forces her onto a hunt for a legendary sea creature whose body holds a second amplifier. The privateer captain Sturmhond turns on the Darkling and helps Alina and Mal escape, and Alina claims the sea whip's power as her second amplifier, growing stronger. Sturmhond is revealed to be Prince Nikolai Lantsov of Ravka, and he brings them back to the capital. There Alina is made the figurehead of the Second Army and a saint to the common people, whose devotion the priest known as the Apparat encourages, while Nikolai schemes to save the failing kingdom and proposes binding himself to Alina to secure the throne. Mal grows ever more distant as Alina is consumed by power and politics. The Darkling attacks the capital with his shadow monsters and overwhelms it. Nikolai is gravely assailed and vanishes, and Alina, her strength faltering, is taken underground by the Apparat's followers, with the search now turned toward a third and final amplifier, the firebird.

Previously, in Shadow and Bone: Alina Starkov, an overlooked orphan serving as an army mapmaker, discovered she was the Sun Summoner, a Grisha able to conjure light and, by legend, the only one who could destroy the Shadow Fold that splits Ravka. Taken by the Darkling, the ageless leader of the Grisha, she was trained at the Little Palace and drawn to his power and attention. But she learned the truth: the Darkling had created the Fold himself with forbidden magic and meant to use her light to turn it into a weapon of conquest. Alina fled and, with the help of her oldest friend and tracker Mal, sought Morozova's stag, a legendary creature whose antlers could be forged into an amplifier to increase her power. The Darkling caught them, killed the stag, and fastened its antler collar on Alina to control her, then used her light to kill on the Fold. Discovering the bond ran both ways, Alina seized command of her own power, broke his hold, and escaped with Mal across the Fold and out of Ravka. The Darkling was left behind but not destroyed, and Alina now carried the stag's amplifier and the burden of what she was.

Alina and Mal have been living in hiding far from Ravka, across the sea, trying to disappear into ordinary life. Their refuge does not last: the Darkling, who survived their last encounter and now commands frightening new shadow creatures, tracks them down and takes them captive. He forces Alina onto a dangerous sea hunt in search of a second amplifier, a legendary creature whose power could be joined to the amplifier she already carries and make her light greater still, though bound once more to his will. Aboard ship and closely guarded, Alina and Mal look for any chance to break free, and help arrives from an unexpected quarter in the form of a bold and cunning privateer captain and his crew, whose willingness to cross even the Darkling opens a narrow path to escape.

The Darkling, alive and more dangerous than before, now commands a host of shadow creatures born of forbidden magic. After he forces Alina onto a sea hunt for a second amplifier, the privateer captain Sturmhond helps her and Mal escape, and Alina claims the power of the sea whip, adding a second amplifier to the stag's antlers. Sturmhond is revealed to be Prince Nikolai Lantsov, a younger son of Ravka's royal house working to save the country from collapse, and he returns Alina to the capital. There she becomes the reluctant symbol and leader of the Second Army and an object of religious devotion the Apparat cultivates, while Nikolai maneuvers to secure the crown, proposing an alliance and marriage with her for the good of the realm. The bond between Alina and Mal frays as power and duty pull her away from him. The book ends in catastrophe: the Darkling assaults the capital with his shadow soldiers and takes the city. Nikolai is grievously attacked and disappears, Alina's power falters at the worst moment, and she is led underground by the Apparat's devoted followers, weakened and cornered. The hope of stopping the Darkling now rests on finding a third amplifier, the firebird, and the balance has tipped sharply in the enemy's favor.