This book should have been half its length. Paige Mahoney is not an interesting or strong enough character to carry a book of this size, and her cast of surrounding characters and her poorly built love interest doesn't help. Shannon's lack of explanation was bearable in the first book as there was a lot of world-building going on, but to have it continue into the second volume made this story difficult and tedious to read. The main villain is Paige's boss, Jaxon, who was the unspoken hero to her in the first book, and his motivations are never strong enough to justify this shift. I really like how unusual the world is and how lovingly crafted it clearly is, but Shannon needs a better editor for this series to be as strong as it needs to be.