I really really loved The Prison Healer. But this..? This wasn’t good.

I’m being really generous giving it 3 stars, tbh. Most of the book was fairly boring with little to no action. The main character, Kiva, felt like a cardboard cut out of herself from book one. I don’t know what happened to make this story so bland all of the sudden. Kiva felt strong and intelligent in the first book, in this one I kept doing double takes bc she seemed really eager to keep making the stupidest decisions.

Also can anyone tell me why her family deserves the crown over Jaren’s family? Bc as far as I can tell, they do everything correctly and are great rulers? And all Kiva’s family can claim is their bloodline? Why are there so many rebels when the Vallentis family treats everyone fairly?

Idk I’m just really disappointed with this one. I’m probably going to finish the series, I want to know what happens. But I definitely don’t have high hopes.

Edited to add: why was Nari in like none of this book?? We get like 2 scenes with her that were longer than a line or two. She was one of my favs in the first book.