I don't really read poetry often or know how to analyze it, so I'm leaving this unrated. Overall, I feel like kept having to redirect my focus to this collection, and there wasn't really any poem that stood out significantly above the others.

The themes explored in this book were the strongest part of a story that was ultimately held back by cheesy writing and uneven pacing. For most of the book, it felt like the author was rushing to get to the next plot point without taking the time to convince the reader of the character's motivations.

I'm sad this series is over, so reading this felt very bittersweet. But at the same time it was a very a very satisfying and fitting end.

This was a really fun political fantasy. That might seem like a contradictory statement but the book is told entirely from the perspective of a main character that's a bit chaotic, morally bankrupt, and petty enough to kick-start and escalate the ruin of a whole country. Because of this, the story feels almost lighthearted in a twisted way as the reader finds out how the protagonist maneuvers his way around the head officials of the country this story takes place in while also trying to make it out alive. I do wish the idea that this whole book was the main character telling this story to an unnamed someone had been established earlier on in the book, and towards the end the book started to drag just a little but it was still overall very enjoyable.  

I'm continuing to love how this series handles the different things that the characters face, and excited to see how things wrap up in the next volume.

Jemisin explains in the Author's Note why they ended up finishing this series as a duology instead of the originally trilogy, and while I completely understand her reasons I can't help but wonder what this story would have looked like if she had been able to write it to it's original intended length. The ending felt a little rushed, and I would have preferred that the book's plot had gone in a direction where there was more emphasis on the city avatar lore and inter-dimensional world-building then the U.S. politics. It was all still interesting, because I am so invested in and attached to this set of characters that the author has created that I don't think I could ever dislike a book centering these characters. I had a lot of fun with this book, but I wanted to read more about these characters, so I'm sad we're not getting a third book.

I enjoyed this volume even more than the first volume. I'm really liking how this series is not afraid to be realistic and show how people can make mistakes and hurt each other even though (and especially when) they are trying to help. I also really loved the message that trying to help someone before they are ready to be helped can actually do more harm than good. 

Great start to what I can already tell is going to be a heartwarming series, if not necessarily lighthearted. I liked how the story acknowledges the hardships the characters face without letting the story become too weighed down by it.