So much potential wasted

3.5 stars

After reading the first book I had my gripes about it but overall it was well written and a fascinating start to a trilogy that could’ve really explored the world of Orisha and its magic. To my surprise when the sequel was released this was 100 pages lighter than its predecessor—-huh?? But I tried to dismiss my worries. Maybe the book would take a different direction

It took a different direction all right. But not a direction that warranted its own story and 400 pages.

So MUCH POTENTIAL CAME OUT OF THE FIRST. And yet the entire book it seems is an extension of the last 50 pages of the first book. War. There’s little explanation and just fighting. Tears. Death. And more fighting. For Christ’s sake a new bolder villain is introduced in this sequel except the villains backstory ends up becoming this uno-reverse card that sets back the honesty of the plot by 1000x .

What the heck?

There was nothing necessary about this second book. There was a mark, and instead of landing on it, the book zig zags around it until it completely misses it altogether. This book should have been LONGER and more world-building / world discovery. I wanted to see both sides of the monarchy and the magi exploring the Magic they revived after A NEAR CENTURY. I wanted character development. More ancient history uncovered. But all of that is literally fast forwarded to the war —(yet again)— except this time we learn nothing new about the people, or their emotional motives.

Without Zelie and Amari as the main characters, everyone else’s storylines just falls apart. And the magic explanations just feel all too rushed.

This book just felt too much like book 1 except none of my questions were answered. And I feel cheated of a good ending.

Don’t know if I’ll come back to the third book just yet. It needs work before I can consider.