I've had this book for a while. I think I got it not too long after it came out, it was on sale at Barnes and Noble. I just never read it, the reason is long-winded and, ultimately, not that important. But I finally read it, and OH MAN, this was a good sequel.

   There were some small pacing issues I had that puts this a tiny notch down from the first book. The first book, I flew through that. But it might also be that I re-read it before reading this one and I don't remember how fast I read the first one. (I'm also a faster reader these days). There was a lot of "downtime", with Laia and Elias. 

 Helene kind of was the main character of this book, I really enjoyed her chapters. I didn't really care one way or another most of the first book about her, but this book *chef's kiss* I can't wait to see where her character goes. 

 Laia probably goes through some of the most character development. It just all happened in the last 1/3 of the book. She was doing great until Keenan showed up again, and then things went downhill from there for her. We find out much, much later why that happened, and I like that reveal (I accidentally got spoiled for it so it wasn't as shocking as it should have been), but it was a good plot twist, and once it happened all the small details that were once overlooked seem so obvious.

 Elias, oh Elias... you fool. He is so reckless, and I hope he stops in the next book. For all this posturing about wanting to uphold his promise to Laia he sure doesn't think about his own safety enough to make sure he's alive to do that. Though I do wonder how he'll get himself out of the situation he's in at the end of the book.

   

   The overall plot of this book, I'm not exactly sure what the main focus was supposed to be. Things weren't quite as tied together as they were in the first book. Everyone was kind of on their own missions. This feels like some really intense setup for the rest of the series. I plan to read the rest through my library since I don't have physical copies of them. I will buy the rest of the series, I just got a lot of books this summer and I haven't read any of them yet. Self-imposed rule to read at least 3 of them before I get more.