So I’ve probably already cooled down a little on the series. It was still overall an enjoyable read but not nearly as much as a breeze as the first book in the series. To be fair I tend to be pretty biased towards the first books in a series as I just really like the feeling of discovery and just getting into new stuff in general. Also I mentioned how much timing mattered, as I’ve just come down from finishing a long epic series (Malazan) and that just gave it an extra dose of refreshment, if that makes any sense.

I feel like the series relies a bit too much on its pretty long action sequences and they just tend to get tiring at some points. Another slightly negative aspect was that my favorite part about the first book (pretty much everything surrounding the cats and just Rowl in general) had more of a side quest feeling in this one. Yes it looped back around into the main plot towards the end but I just wanted more time with that set of characters. 

On the positive side: I liked the, I think you can call him, main protagonist, ship captain Grimm, a lot more in this one. He just had plenty of really cool, funny and just badass moments and now I’m really rooting for him. 

We also got introduced into a new POV who was this high society older lady that had to deal with a lot of social scheming, politicking and stuff like that and I thought she was just kind of meh. There was a lot of fun interaction with by far the most socially awkward character in the series though and those parts were hella fun. 

In terms of plot this book was an improvement over the first one which wasn’t hard since it was very light on plot. There is a compelling Mystery being developed here and I am curious about future installments within the series. The epilogue did a really good job of making me intrigued about what’s to come next.