It has been so long since The Stardust Thief! I'm thrilled that Abdullah put a little summary recap in the beginning. It jogged my memory, and it is greatly appreciated! We pick up where we left off in book one.

My favorite thing about this series is the characters! Several characters come together and form a little found family—a heads up to those who love that trope. We delve much deeper into several of these characters, and many have a lot of growth. I loved the short stories throughout the book! They were short, but impactful.

Mazen was a character that probably grew the most since the first book. He comes into his own and makes some huge jumps in his character. I adored his relationship with everyone. He's unsure of himself but constantly leads with his heart. He has come a long way in this book. Qadir takes a step back in this book. He is one of my favorites, so that was a little disappointing. I get why it happened, but I was not happy about it! I did find myself struggling with Aisha's chapters for a while. I know she's struggling to find balance with herself and who she's carrying. I do love her snarky attitude when she's around the group. Some of her lines are pretty hilarious! I want to point out there is no romance in this book!! We get hints of something happening, but you are not getting a romance here. :)

A lot of the beginning and middle were slow-paced. We don't get much movement in the overall plot. There are a lot of new characters, some that I love, but it takes time. It's very character driven, and Abdullah is expanding our world. I loved getting to see more sides to this world she's created. It's not until about 60% that the plot takes off. Even though it's a slower-paced book, I still enjoyed my time with it. The ending was fantastic, and I did NOT see that coming!

Overall, this was a solid sequel with slower-moving parts. The characters had a lot of character growth. I enjoyed their overall arcs. The ending to this was insane and makes me want to read book three now! I did not see it coming, and I'm usually pretty good at figuring stuff like that out. If you enjoyed The Stardust Thief, I think you will enjoy this one too. I do hope we don't have to wait as long for book three!
 
Thank you, Orbit, for the arc!! All thoughts and opinions are my own