This answered my question about where Ronan's voice was in the last book. It was all here - and it was goooooood. I really enjoyed getting inside his head and exploring what makes him Ronan, finding out who he really is. I will say, the one thing is that the parts where he interacts with Kavinsky - the were a little too meta (or something) for me. Overall, definitely a very solid second book, likely due in part to the fact that, while if furthered the overall story as well, it jumped to focus on a different part of it, which had it's own rising plot and conclusion within the larger picture, which was allowed to move forward without getting "stale," if you will. Also, I see why Adam is necessary and important and etc. but for some reason he is my least favorite character and story - similar to how I felt about Sam/Frodo in LOTR - he's totally integral but I just want to skim his parts. The inclusion of the Gray Man was a great character addition, on his own and also as a larger plot device (because though they were able to get rid of Whelk and Kavinsky, eventually the author is going to run out of ways to "magically" dispose of characters). I'm excited to see what happens now that he decided to come back only to find Maura gone. My last point, and we'll see what happens with this over the next half of this series, is that while I am really enjoying these books and characters and story, for some reason I still feel like I'm reading as an outsider. I don't know if it's the style, there are times when the author writes things that I think are supposed to lightbulb moments for readers like they are for the characters and I miss something, or something else, but there is a disconnect that is not allowing me to jump in and be a part of the plot like I have with others. It's an odd feeling, like myself, as a reader, is un-tethered a little - we'll see.