Reminds me of Land of Stories except more descriptive and dark. Sort of like comparing the Disney movies of fairy tales to the originals, because this really reads like a long fairytale. I enjoyed Nerron (aka the Bastard)’s perspective because of things like this:

Charles de Lotharaine was a crowned cat pretending to be vegetarian while the tail of a mouse hung from its mouth. (Pg 86)

Made me chuckle a few times with his thoughts or opinions, even though he is the antagonist. Also, I had suspected that

Jacob was related to Guismond because it would make sense that his father was important in this world

.
Also, I would be fine with the books ending here, as a duology, but I’m also secretly glad that there’s more so that I can see Jacob and Fox all happy together. An epilogue would’ve sufficed though. All in all, I liked this one just as much as the first one, although there’s more action and less world building.