4.5*
Well, this was a fun and addictive book! When it showed up at my door looking all giant, I was a little scared. Big books are scary. Sequels are scary. But neither was a problem here! So shall we chat about what made this a really good sequel whilst trying to be super vague because again, sequel? Great!
- It is so fast paced! For a book that's over 500 pages, it never once felt long. That in itself is a feat. But it just flowed really well, with a great combination of action scenes and downtime for character growth and development.
- Speaking of, the characters went through a lot and they had to make some really tough decisions. Decisions about who to trust, what to believe, all kinds of unknowns. It was both interesting and thought provoking to see how different people handle difficult, sometimes life-threatening situations.
- We get a lot more information on characters who were introduced in the first book. While this book is still primarily Min and Noah's story, I loved getting to know some of the other characters. I won't even tell you which because that in itself could be spoilers, but wow, some of them were handled so well. Some were in a moral gray area, some we just got to hate, but it was all really intriguing and ties in with my above point of watching people handle these situations.
- Sometimes in sequels, it is really hard to get back into the world and story. Not the case here! The author did a phenomenal job of giving us little hints to what happened in the last book, but without it feeling at all info dumpy. It was just the perfect amount of reminder material to make me feel fully engaged in the story again.
- It was nice and twisty! A lot of stuff went down in this book, and a lot of it was shocking (and in some cases, downright brutal and dark which I am always here for.) I definitely was- and still am, for the next book- kept guessing as to where the story would go next!
- I daresay this was even better than the first book! Yes, one of those rare gems! The stakes just seem so, so high in this one. And I liked the direction the story took. The science fiction vibe is stronger with this one, and it fascinated me for sure.
- The end was so epic and I cannot wait for answers!!
The only thing that stopped me from giving this the full five stars was a twist near the end. It isn't even that I didn't like what happened it just... well view at your own discretion: It kind of negated a lot of the stuff that happened during the book? Like- it made a lot of what the characters had to do seem unnecessary in hindsight, and since I loved all that it took to get where they were, I was a little underwhelmed by this.
Bottom Line: Such a stellar sequel. All sequels, take note, because this is how it's done. I am basically giddy excited for book three, because wow, need it.
Copy provided for review