For all we heard about Lara's skills in the previous book, it was fantastic to see them REALLY put to use in this sequel. For lovers of sword fights, strategy, and jailbreaks, you have your fill in this book. Personally, I felt the ending conflict had a few unnecessary plot elements that didn't add to the story -- space in the text I believe could have been better used for the denouement (aka more time with Aren/Lara aka more fluff thank u). 

On the topic of fluff, expect a lot more angst and pining in this sequel. In general, the one aspect of the first novel that I miss were scenes dedicated to characters talking or bantering or otherwise exploring the myriad of dynamics (like between the twins) that were so excellent in the Bridge Kingdom. The bonds in the first novel were fantastic and helped the author weave this wonderful tapestry of a fantasy world, and I felt they were really missed here. I understand war changes us but moments of humanity can happen during whatever respite you get. 

I think this opportunity was especially missed with her sisters! I wanted to learn so much more about them and am sad they showed up, kicked ass, and then just disappeared for the rest of the book AHH! Give me cute sister bonding catch-up moments pls

 
 
I feel like Lara's "literally perfect weapon" status was amplified even more here, almost to the book's detriment. I felt no tension at what happened to her in her battles, especially as we neared the ending, since she is quite possibly a god instead. The final third of the book floundered a bit for me as well as the story took so many fast twists and turns that, as a reader, I barely had a chance to wrap my head around what was happening before we moved on. Again, I think having a few extra scenes centred on reunions, chatting about weird strategy minutiae or any other reason for characters to interact (outside of re-hashing who they can trust in the war; talking shit to Lara's face; or debating whether or not Aren/Lara can get back together) would have helped pace this a little better.

In all, I still loved this series and it has earned itself on my bookshelf as titles I will gladly re-read (and re-read and re-read) in the future. As much as I complain, it's simply because I want more of the content that Jensen has so clearly shown that she kicks ass at. I can't wait to see where she takes this in the coming sequels!

Huge ending spoiler rant:

In all honesty, I wish she would have cut the ending portcullis scene or let Lara die. It felt like a cheap last "but one more thing!" before we had our happy ending, after a series of impossible victories after impossible victories on Lara's part. While I'm happy she lived, I think letting her die would be a commendable and brave decision on the author's part, especially given the constant theme of Aren having to pick between his two loves: Lara or his people. For her to die and come back cheapened the ending for me, but I hope this means we'll see more of these two (even in passing) in future novels in this series.

In my mind, having her swim through the sharks and basically collapse in exhaustion for Aren to carry back to shore would have been enough. You could have included all the declarations into the "i'm waking up in bed after surviving the impossible" scene (that still feels valid since she basically ran around losing blood for days/hours and swam through sharks) without adding even more impossible injuries to her like her cracked ribs and literal drowning. I have a lot of feelings about this i am sorry