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. 

 

Wow this series gets even better with this sequel! 

Plot twist upon plot twist throughout the story keeps surprising me and lots of battle scene with epic magic power display from Tisaanah and Max are magnificent! 

 

The plot started right after the ending of the first book, after the war at Threll now Max and Tisaanah also have to fight battles in Aran. 

The writing style is just as beautiful as the first book. The world building is also expanding, exploring the new Fae territory with different magic and politics to know about. 

 

The new POV addition is very intriguing, it gives the readers more insights to understand more about one of the characters in this book. The twist at the end about the new POV really surprised me even though I already had my suspicion in the middle of the story.   

 

As much as I love this book, the pacing becomes slower in some parts of the story compare to the first book.  

 

Overall, this is a great addition to the series. The twists and cliff-hanger at the end were totally unexpected. This sequel  gets even darker and more heart-breaking than the first book. I can’t wait to read the third book to see the happy ending these characters deserves! 

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.