I loved the first book in this series, The Luminaries, which was also my first book by this author. And this book did not disappoint! I’ve been eagerly awaiting it. I even held off reading the ARC the publisher sent me until closer to the actual pub date, which messed me up because of family things getting in the way and me getting a bit behind. But once I was able to pick it up I was flipping the pages as fast as I could because I had to know how things were going to turn out.

I guess I assumed this was going to be a duology, and for the longest time I could see it possibly getting everything all neatly tied up. But then a few other things happened and now I know there will at least be one more book and I am excited for that. Because this one left us with more questions, questions building upon things we were left wondering about at the end of the first book. Because even as some answers fell into place, they often led to new questions.

There was one big “reveal” towards the end, although I pretty much had figured it out in the first book early on, and I’m guessing most people who read probably did as well. Which is fine, the characters didn’t know, so it was still interesting to read and see how they would figure it all out.

New creatures or nightmares as they are called in the story were introduced in this book. And once again I found myself really wishing for the author to create or have someone draw all these creatures and create a compendium I can look at. I liked the way Winnie kind of felt for the creatures, that they were kind of like animals, some of them anyway, so how could they be blamed for just that.

And Winnie and Jay’s relationship is developing at a perfect pace. I’m also looking forward to seeing what obstacles they’ll face in the next book, and how they will continue to grow closer as friends again, and more.