I liked this more than the first one. And again, this is an increment that’s rounded up to the benefit of the book. So there’s some serious trepidation.

There’s a loooot of political intrigue. I like it more than the courting stuff, and again, pacing problems, some weird gender performance dynamics, dogmatic, religious/ moral absolutism. Basically, this book made me lookup to see if Brandon Sanderson was problematic, and he is - kind of. As with Captain Homophobia, Orson Scott Card, Sanderson is also Mormon. However, it also looks like Sanderson has apologized and made substantive additions to his work and grown as a person. So it’s something people will have to make individual decisions on. Apparently later books has queer characters and he’s much more thoughtful and considerate in his views. Which is good to hear.

Because damn. A major qualm I have is Vin feeling a bit too, ‘I only know how to write strong women by making them masculine in some way’, and Ellend grappling with his love for her because she has these masculine connotations is a very big red flag to me. He does grow the fuck up about it somewhat. But, something that negatively impacted my experience for a bit. It’s very YA, but bad writing trope YA.

There is an expansion on the magic system, there’s way more interesting stakes. There’s much better fights. Deaths. Epic shit goes down. And actual character development. So ultimately, it came out ahead. There are some seriously great moments and the ending was great. I liked it more than the first one substantially, despite the Red Flags flying.