Yeah, I dunno, something about this just didn't work for me. Skimming the reviews, I seem to be in the minority with that opinion, so maybe take my thoughts with a grain of salt here. I just felt off the whole time I was reading this. The pacing felt weird, the transitions between plot points felt obligatory and forced rather than clever, the characters didn't feel real, and the amazing worldbuilding I loved in the first book was barely there. 

This next paragraph I'm going to let out some spoilery frustrations... It was nonstop plot point to plot point to plot point, and there wasn't enough time between heavy scenes to feel for the characters.

Yet, when the characters knew something was urgent, they just split up and went to their respective dwellings and took some downtime? Even though at the end of the book there were suddenly enough rooms in Il Bastone for everyone to NOT split up?

The characters didn't feel firmly *in* the story and setting, and their reactions to things happening around them didn't feel true to their characters.

I mean, the whole book Alex is yearning for Darlington, and then he finally comes back, and she leaves him with barely a hello to... go eat dry cereal. I'm confused. And Mercy just instantly accepts magic exists within the span of a paragraph with basically no follow up questions? Just because the plot needed her?

 

There were some really awesome worldbuilding and lore ideas in this book, that I feel could have made for a really great sequel, but it just wasn't there yet. Maybe I just didn't meet this book at the right time.