Fevered Star

Kind of a disappointment when compared with the first book, not gonna lie. I read the first book earlier this year, loved it, and added it to my favorites list for this year without question. This one is very clearly Book Two, in that nothing of any particular special note happens, but we get a lot of exposition about what happened.

All of the previous points of view are here for you to read and digest their feelings after the aftermath of the first book. Lots of regret, lots of confusion, lots of anger to go around for everyone involved, which is understandable but also kind of....boring? It felt like the same points of anger, regret, confusion are repeated several times in several different ways across the viewpoints, and it started reading as very same-y by the end. Also, lots of political intrigue buildup in this book, so if that's not your thing, you probably won't enjoy this one very much.

Funny enough, Xiala's viewpoint was my favorite in the first book, but I found it kind of bland in this one. She's just kinda....there, and all the badassery she showed in the first book now has her questioning everything and regretting things and being a downer and kind of wishywashy. I sort of wanted her to embrace her new side to a degree, not run from it. She also doesn't seem to drive the plot any like she did in the first book, so it felt like she was just the reader's observer character in this one. I don't know, kind of disappointing.

But I do like all the political pieces moving around! I'm big on fantasy political drama, and it seems to be setting up for something good in the next book. There's just a lot of slog to get through along the way.