Max Fray

“Curiously, proponents of rigid use controls who object so firmly to death in the city, seem to object equally firmly to life breaking out in the city.”

“Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.”

“No one is obliged to take part in the spiritual crisis of a society. On the contrary, everyone is obliged to avoid the folly, and live his life in order.”

While not a totally awful second entry, not an entirely convincing one for me, either. Perhaps, in the end, by trying to do too much, he did too little.

I was really excited for this one, but the pacing felt off and the dynamics of where most of the characters are at at this stage of the story is a bit perplexing to me.

I enjoyed a bit of it, but definitely not as much as book 1. Where book 1 was sharp in its focus, book 2 was lost in it's breadth. The more I've thought about it since finishing, the less I like it. I lean towards 3.5 stars.

The kind of book that makes you rethink the 5 stars you've given to other fantasy novels...