I really enjoyed the first book of this series, and this is an excellent follow up. Like many fantasy series, it just gets better once you know the world and are invested in the characters. I wish I could give it four and a half stars.
The main character in particular has a fantastic arc, and unlike many series I have read, she doesn’t stop learning and improving at the beginning of the first book, but continues throughout. It seems like the author did a lot of thinking about how he wants his characters to develop and has spaced it throughout the books, augmenting the epic experience and general sense of reality. One of my favorite elements of the story was a certain dark undercurrent that flows throughout and really heightens the suspense and the mood. It was really well done.
The world itself is incredibly rich and detailed. My one criticism would be that the speech is anachronistic, sometimes using idioms or even contemporary slag which feels out of place with the rest of the story tone. I did clench my teeth a few times over this. I liked the story so much that it was worth that minor irritation, however, if not for that I probably would have given it five stars overall.
The narration was very nice.
I received this book for free at my request and have voluntarily left this review.