Wren
I thought the balance to being in a constant state of anxiety was peace; but what if it’s chaos?
This felt less like a sequel and more like a… remix? The external plot with all the joy stealing and having to attend another holiday kingdom’s festivities etc was incredibly similar to the first book. The LI here basically has the same arc as the first book’s MC. Kris even tells Lach as much in that “you’re just like my brother Coal” scene. And then later Hex, Coal’s LI from the first book, approaches Kris with “I’ve been exactly where you are now,” so I guess at least the narrative is self-aware when it comes to these similarities. But still, reading this story felt like going around in circles.
For the good/better stuff: I think an effort was made to un-muddy the worldbuilding a bit—it still begs to not be looked at too closely, but I think I’ve got a better grasp on the whole joy economy, at least. There were some genuinely funny moments, though on the other hand Lach and Kris also managed to out-cringe Coal sometimes, which is no mean feat. Also, much like the first book, this one takes a sharp turn from a somewhat YA-flavored PG-13 romcom to pages upon pages of smut, but this time, I liked the smut and the feels that go with it more.
I won’t say I had a bad time reading it, but I liked it far less than the first book. And that one was already far from a five-star read for me, but at least it made me care for the characters and want to know what happens next once Coal is Santa. I still would like to know what happens next, but instead, sadly, I got this remix thing. So I don’t know if I want to pick up the third book at all, for fear of it just being another ride on the same merry-go-round.
I thought the balance to being in a constant state of anxiety was peace; but what if it’s chaos?
This felt less like a sequel and more like a… remix? The external plot with all the joy stealing and having to attend another holiday kingdom’s festivities etc was incredibly similar to the first book. The LI here basically has the same arc as the first book’s MC. Kris even tells Lach as much in that “you’re just like my brother Coal” scene. And then later Hex, Coal’s LI from the first book, approaches Kris with “I’ve been exactly where you are now,” so I guess at least the narrative is self-aware when it comes to these similarities. But still, reading this story felt like going around in circles.
For the good/better stuff: I think an effort was made to un-muddy the worldbuilding a bit—it still begs to not be looked at too closely, but I think I’ve got a better grasp on the whole joy economy, at least. There were some genuinely funny moments, though on the other hand Lach and Kris also managed to out-cringe Coal sometimes, which is no mean feat. Also, much like the first book, this one takes a sharp turn from a somewhat YA-flavored PG-13 romcom to pages upon pages of smut, but this time, I liked the smut and the feels that go with it more.
I won’t say I had a bad time reading it, but I liked it far less than the first book. And that one was already far from a five-star read for me, but at least it made me care for the characters and want to know what happens next once Coal is Santa. I still would like to know what happens next, but instead, sadly, I got this remix thing. So I don’t know if I want to pick up the third book at all, for fear of it just being another ride on the same merry-go-round.