In this book, Zach gets more screen time than Ryun, which gives a bit of balance after the first book. Both original protagonists continue to be both ambiguous and interesting. It’s not clear which, if either of them, is in the right, which makes for good storytelling.
I rated the first book five stars, but this book only three stars, and there are reasons:
The world doesn’t make much sense, with both too much and too little conflict. It’s not an anarchy, nor is there a solid structure, and there doesn’t seem to be movement toward either, which I find unconvincing.
The number of significant point of view is increasing, which reduces the coherence of the story.
The story is much less about character and more about character optimization.
And too much time is spent on character sheets.
I’ll read the next book, but I’m much less sanguine about this series than I was after the first book.