As with all of her books, you always come away with more information and perspective on a culture you probably aren’t familiar with. She always describes things so that they almost become cinematic, even using great specificity with meals and customs when it’s pertinent.

Had this been a bit longer it probably would have been 5 stars. As the first half is a reminder of what happened last time and the second half is this very sweet story with Esa and his friend, and his problem, which leads down a road I hadn’t expected, it’s hard to justify the 5 stars despite really loving the ending.

You learn a lot and it’s hard subject matter, as it is with all the books so far in this series, and it’s well worth your time and $2.