暗影重重

Unfortunately, this book suffers from "second book in the trilogy" syndrome in that it is mostly set-up for the third one. It also ends in a cliffhanger. I found Lila's plot really annoying and unbelievable. I understand what the author was going for but I think that could have been achieved in a better way. The new relationship between Kell and Rhy due to events in the first book is explored only in a very shallow manner. It takes quite a while before the book gets going and then we really spend almost all of the second half on a tournament of wizards while the book hardly explores the much more interesting goings-on in White London. I did burn through the audiobook regardless but the book is a clear let-down compared to the first. But because of the cliffhanger, I'll read the third book, too.

On a par with the first. A mostly fun romp. Drags a little in the middle, and is marred for me by the occasional use of very modern turns of phrase which I find very distracting (e.g. someone in a regency-ish era London claiming they're good at "multi-tasking").

I didn't care for this at all. It's as if this book took the great premise of the first book and kinda ignored it. Instead we get lots of angsty Kell, and Lila, a magic contest that wasn't exciting with just the occasional hint of the overlying plot. My biggest problem is that I learned I don't give a shit about these characters. It read like YA and I don't like most modern YA. Probably not going to finish the series.