The second book builds on the strong characterization and world building from the first book. We learned a lot more about the afterlife in this book, and it remained delightfully creepy. I think this is the strongest book in the trilogy. The relationships between our main four characters are very strong and very fun. 

The best part of the book is

when Vonvalt kills that prisoner in order to teach Helena how to travel to the afterlife and speak to the dead. It's such a beautiful piece of character development for both of them and really seals the deal on Vonvalt's moral decline.