Fun to return to the characters but definitely doesn’t feel as unique as the first book in terms of plotting and tropes. It also heavily goes into nautical stuff, where the characters are being taught about the terms and this section was interminable to me, because I just did not care about all of that stuff. Reads like the author did a lot of research and didn’t want any of it to go to waste.

Happily, once that section is sorted it’s back to an unconventional pirate crew I really enjoyed. Though as mentioned, the numerous twists, especially the one started at the very start can be seen from a mile away, unlike the first, which obfuscates at least some of the twisty ways, somewhat. It’s a fun enough formula holdover but is a bit old back-to-back. I think it’d have been more enjoyable. I’m going straight to the next though, as I want to get through a bunch of series I’ve been putting off, like this one.