The Empress of Time

I went straight from book 1 into book 2 and I pretty much feel the same as I did about book one. 3.5 stars if I could. It didn't improve on the things I disliked, but continued to do well the things that I did like. I'm still not a huge fan of Ren. It's hard to believe her absolute dedication to her brother after the events of the first book and again, though I get she is supposed to be a grey character, there was just not much about her I liked. Her one redeeming quality seems to be her love for her brother, but after previous events seems shallow at best. She accepts that she's flawed and not a good person, but does absolutely nothing to change that or to improve. I guess I expected more of a redemptive arc and didn't feel that actually happened. However, I still love the world-building and dark lyrical writing. The world continues to be unique, fascinating, horror-like and mythical in all the right ways. I was more pulled in by the world of Japanese myths and folklore much more than the characters, as I was in the first book. I struggle with how to rate these books because on one level I really enjoyed the world and magic and unique nature of the story, but I had a hard time connecting to the characters which is usually my biggest reason to love a book. I don't think they are in anyway bad and I think they are worth a read, but maybe just won't be an all time favourite.