Not nearly as good as the first book… mainly because it’s just so slow going. Enjoyable in that it gives us lots of lore and plenty of time with Commander Rip, the best part of this book by far. Getting through the first 75% was a bit hard… it’s just so slow and feels like therapy for Auren that she basically ignores. The last quarter of the book was really good though and I actually finished that part really quick because I was finally excited about what was happening.

I’m not of the opinion that this is lacking in romance, mainly because I don’t think romance is the point of this story yet. Right now we’re trying to get to know and understand Auren, which is exactly what this book is for. Definitely succeeds in that. There are hints of romance going on though, little tastes for the future. I’m looking forward to where that goes.

We get a chapter from Midas’ POV which was interesting. He’s a piece of shit but his character is written well for the role he needs to play so getting into his evil little brain was fun. There are also a few chapters from Queen Malina’s POV but I honestly hated them… she’s not an interesting character and I don’t think she works well as a villain either because she’s just not smart enough to be. There seems to be some sort of plot surrounding her that I’m sure will show up in that books, so I hope she’s interesting by then.

Loved the poem at the end! And as in the first book the author just has a very beautiful writing style which could make even the slow parts at least a bit enjoyable.