This book is way better than the first. I rated this first pretty highly mainly because I loved the mystery of it all. This book however has all that allure plus better characters. While I loved Julian in the last book I didn't necessarily think Scarlet was the best,not worst but definitely not the best and I was unsure about Tella. But Tella is far more interesting and likeable than Scarlet. Not saying she's bad just didn't feel like a compelling main character. I also loved what they decided to do with the story. It made everything so much more interesting. All the other side characters in this were more interesting as well.