I can't start this review without talking about the cover, which is absolutely stunning and is what drew me to the book in the first place (I will admit that I hadn't realised it was book 2 at the time, but that just gave me the excuse to read book one as well).

The Court of Lions has many positive aspects, firstly I love that this is Moroccan inspired as I am enjoying exploring fantasy from non-medieval European pov, and this book was a beautiful example of that. That it had LGBT rep is also a major plus point for me. I also thoroughly enjoyed the court intrigue and found it very well done for the most part and certainly my favourite parts of the story revolved around the intrigue. I also enjoyed the characters, and the development between book one and this one was clear. However, the aspect that I struggled most with was the relationships - one it felt as though they developed far too quickly for the most part, and could have done with taking a little longer to develop. I also found the pacing to be off in places, and unfortunately this one a little difficult to stick with in places.