I can tell that this series is a very well-thought-out and very complicated one. The structure of the world had me spinning in the first book The Bone Season, so much so that I had to read this next book The Mime Order in a physical format as I read the first book in ebook format, and it was too confusing to keep track. As it's been years since I read the first book, I had to find a recap post of the events to remind me of the details - thank god for the blog Recaptions.
The Mime Order starts immediately where The Bone Season left off. Paige is on the train heading back to London with the other escaped voyants, but they have a problem, they need to get off of the train before it gets to the centre of London, or they're all dead. The plot of book two is Paige trying to find a way to get the word out about the Rephaim controlling Scion and what is exactly at stake. Jaxon doesn't think it's a good idea because there is no proof so no one would believe her. Paige spends most of the time trying to stay alive as she is the most wanted person by Scion and everyone in London is looking for her.
I admire just how deep this story goes, just how large this world is, just how many details that need to be taken into account. This story is not a small one, it is not shallow, and it is a good read. I wanted to love this more than I did, but I found it a bit of a struggle to read to the end. I was forcing myself to read a minimum of 50 pages a day because I was a bit afraid that I would give up and not finish it. The last 100 pages were really easy to read in one sitting though.
To me, The Mime Order felt like a filler book to the main story of voyants trying to defeat the Rephaim. Not much happened to progress the main story in my opinion, and while a lot did happen, it really wasn't until right at the end where the plot took off. The pacing for the main plot felt very slow because of this.
I didn't care too much for a lot of the characters, this most likely made it harder for me to enjoy because I wasn't that invested in anyone. I also still struggled to wrap my head around the different kinds of voyants, and the ranking of the mime lords and the court etc. Sometimes it felt like I really didn't understand what was going on because it was deeply ingrained in the world's societal structure, and I was still trying to understand it. Or we could circle back around to not being that invested in the characters to care why certain people were important.
Ultimately, I think The Mime Order was a good read and the world building is pretty staggeringly amazing. But I just didn't love it and I know that when I pick up book three, I will be mentally preparing myself for the pace and intensity of the story. You can tell just how detailed this world is because each book takes years to be published, I imagine trying to keep track of all the details is very complicated. So I definitely admire the author for this.
I will push on to book three at some stage!