In all honesty, I was a little thrown by this second instalment of the War of Lost Hearts series. I enjoyed the story and continue to fall for Maxantarius, the brooding hero who's secretly a hopeless romantic optimist with a heartbreaker's smile, but there was a lot that felt quite disjointed in terms of the writing and character development throughout. It does come across very much as the bridging book between start and end - while it absolutely moves the overall story arc forward and drops some great plot points, it doesn't really have enough going for it to stand on its own merits.

My favourite part of this book is the continuing development of Max and Tisaanah's relationship. IMO, these are the scenes which showcase the writer at her best. There is a small amount of spice, but for the most part their blossoming romance is shown through moments of touching calm amongst the chaos. To see the cranky old man lighten up, smile and surrender to his feelings is beautiful, and makes him all the more lovable. And Tisannah's growing confidence is also well conveyed, complete with setbacks and strife that really add to her complexity as a character. 

A new character POV, that of Aefe, is introduced in this book with basically no warning, which is very disconcerting. Especially when it's not immediately obvious how this is going to tie in with the main narrative. However, overall I found this element if the book more interesting, and loved how it developed. There were a couple of twists and turns I did not see coming; it's certainly something of a rollercoaster! 

Otherwise, the book's pacing seemed a bit all over the place to me. I know a lot of books build up to an epic war that seems to be all over in five minutes flat, but this war really did feel like something of a damp squib. Part of that is explained by the characters' motivations, but equally it just feels like nothing hugely significance happens and it's over before it starts. Likewise, there are a lot of events and plot points that seem to happen without sufficient explanation or backstory, or that are resolved with minimal effort or effect on the plot - I'm hoping some of the threads will be picked up in book three, but for now it just leaves me scratching my head a little. It just leaves a lit of the secondary characters feeling a bit murky in terms of motivations.

The other thing I noticed is that there are a couple of plot devices recycled from the first book. While they remain effective as it's nice to see one character turning something back on another, at the same time it feels like the author may have reached the edges of the imagination.

It does end on a very good moment though, and I am certainly invested enough in the story to want to read book three ASAP!

I wasn't sure I would continue this book after the first one, but this is one of the rare situations where I think the sequel is better than the first. The way this book had me investing in the political system and the ethics of war has never happened for me before lol. Main characters also started feeling significantly more dimensional in this book. 

I'm glad I continued reading this series. Book 2 is much better with the pacing of events and the plot though I still don't like Max. Moth on the otherhand is funny. I hope he's still on the next one. I'll read the last book but not Max's past (　＾∀＾)

BROO. I don’t think I can put into words what I’m feeling rn. I absolutely loved it. The writing was brilliant, her use of pov’s to unfold the plot. Also AEFE, MY HEARTTT. I don’t think I’ve ever read better written villians before, I have an ongoing internal war that I don’t see an end to. 

I have taken some time to think about this installment in the series and my thoughts are thus:

The magic system is in shambles.  What little of it you understood from the first book is extrapolated on a bit, but there's also some wishy-washy moments where the situation doesn't seem to make sense how things work as they have been presented.  Also, what even are stratagrams really?  They are predominantly used for travel, and binding magic, but then there's a necklace that has some charms with stratagrams that do other things and I'm just so confused by it all.

It honestly felt like this book had three separate endings, but contained only two parts.  It was disjointed and the time and pacing were off.  It was a bit of a slog to get through, especially when we would get reiterations of the same thing.

There was a bit of a murder spree situation where everyone started dying all of a sudden and I don't know if the foreshadowing was adequate or overdone and heavy-handed because I guessed some reveals quite early and it meant that the tension in the situation was lost.

There was a new POV right from the start.  This is one of the things I guessed about from the start and so when the big reveal happened 500+/-ish pages later, I was underwhelmed.  It seemed like it was meant to be a big build up with a bigger pay off but it fell short.

I'm debating not continuing and reading the last book in the series.  The obsession with scent, and eyes/being seen, the bad grammar (so many sentences start with "But" that should not, regardless of whose POV it is), the made up nonsense swear words/exclaimations that are never explained, in addition to real swear words, etc..

At the end of the day, I don't know that I care to find out what happens next.

Edited to add a spoiler because I cannot handle it when books do this with sex scenes:
 

So, Tisaanah had been sparring with Nura, and Max had just returned from battle, so they are both sweaty and gross/grimy/possibly bloody, and I get it, you see your honey bunny for the first time in months after nothing but letters and you immediately want to bone down, but like, bruh...  they put their mouths in places I wouldn't want to without a good soap and rinse.  AND THEN THEY BATHE TOGETHER BUT MAX IS ALL...  EW I DON'T WANT TO MARINATE IN UR GROSS SOUP...  Tisaanah rightfully says it's OUR gross soup, but still...  He didn't have any issues having sex with her and him being hella gross.  Anyways, if there was already the plan to bathe, why not do that step first?  It is not that hard.  And the bath water is described as like dingy grey color...  I'm paraphrasing but I finished this book over a week ago and I just remembered this and it gave me the ick all over again.