It has taken me a weirdly long time to read the book, mostly due to all the numerous breaks I took. The weird part is that every time I sat down to read, I was quite engrossed, but then I was never in a hurry to return to reading it. I’ll have to think more about the reasons behind it, but I guess maybe it’s a case of setting my expectations incorrectly? The last part of Legendborn along with the beginning of this installment kind of made me think there would be a lot of focus on the Order, with other facets of this multilayered world getting explored on the side. Instead, without giving too much away, the balance was pretty much the opposite. I did love all the inventive worldbuilding, don’t get me wrong, especially exploring new places like the Crossroads Lounge and the Volition. But maybe the narrative pivoted a bit too much here and there for my taste, or that the plot overall is a bit clunkier than the intricately put together first novel led me to expect. Or maybe it’s just that middle book syndrome where a lot is happening, but even the payoffs are actually a actually just set-ups for what’s to come.

Much as I enjoyed the worldbuilding, the characters were the real highlight of the journey for me. It was great to see Alice gain more personality and agenda of her own. William is a sweetheart. I wish the story had more Lark, I liked him while he was there. I’ve also come to enjoy Valec’s presence, although I have so many suspicions about his motives. Sel continues to get all the best dialogue lines and I continue to favor his side of the love triangle based on 50% that and 50% on the fact that he actually spends enough time with Bree for me to buy the attraction developing.

Although, there were a few moments there where I felt like the author might be at least flirting with the idea of a poly solution to the triangular problem 👀 If so, I kind of support it on principle while also being vaguely against it on the grounds of not being a big fan of Nick/his dynamic with Sel.

Bree herself remains complex, relatable, and interesting all through the story. She does make her share of dumb mistakes and impulsive decisions that backfire, but they always make perfect sense within the narrative. Like, yeah, maybe an actual adult with a support network consisting of other actual adults, great emotional regulation and considerable life experiences would have done better, but alas, what we have is a teen who’s really going through it, and that’s one really well-written teen. 

I guess there are a couple of things I low-key want to judge her for, such as

pulling Nick into those Arthurian memories so many times without knowing what’s happening to him in real life—like come on, what if you do that while he’s in the middle of a conversation, or a fight, or any situation that requires his utmost attention? If you’re so worried about him all the time, why not worry about that?

But I also can easily understand why she does that—she’s a grieving, confused, angry emotional teen living from trauma to trauma, this is her way of checking in with the boy she loves, and everything she’s dealing with is so big and low-key derealization-inducing, of course she can’t stop and focus on concerns about something that may or may not be happening elsewhere. And then there’s also the Really Big Life-Altering Choice she makes at the end of the book that had me wanting to scream at her not to do it all the while, but also, she’s making it right in the wake of another Really Big Life-Altering Choice while being really traumatized. And she’s impulsive, that’s one of her most notable traits. And also, I feel like the narrative itself does a good job framing this as a bad choice that seemsx like a good idea at the time. I’m definitely excited to learn what comes from it in the next book, though I’ll do my best to form fewer expectations this time!