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A fantastic follow-up to one of my favorite books from the 2020s. As someone who appreciates good world-building, I really appreciated this sequel as it was, admittedly, more focused on building up the world than it was the characters, but, building up the characters was what the first book was for. The characters stories progressed in a way that felt natural to them and rather satisfying, honestly. I cannot wait to see where they get taken in the next book, because the groundwork has been set for what should be an absolute thrill-ride. The only thing keeping me from rating this as highly as the first book is admittedly, there are no replacements for some of the characters who were lost in the first book, and those particular characters were some of the biggest reasons why the first book was so great. But, the remaining cast is still quite good, but a hole is felt, for me. But, not much of one. I still enjoyed this quite a bit.

This is a book I have gone back and forth on throughout the years. I always enjoy it, but to what level varies. In my 2020 re-read, I thought it was “decent” but nothing great. This time around, I thought it was closer to “very good.” Sure, there are plenty of problems with this book. In fact, most of the issues I have with the later books in the series had their roots set in this title. That said, I can't help but love it. It still has some feeling of wonder from the first book, but it also expands on it greatly. But none of that is quite what makes this book so enjoyable, it's that this book is unique in the series. It's the only one that feels like that was written to tell a message that Shannon Messenger (the author) had a warning, a message to share with her readers. That message is of how guilt breaks one down. I think the most impactful part is when Alden tells Sophie about how guilt slowly broke him down over time. It wasn't all at once, it was a slow creep, and he documents it well. This book is a thoughtful look at guilt, and how destructive of a force it truly can be, not just on the person who is experiencing said guilt, but on everyone around them as well. It's not a theme that I picked up on as a high schooler reading this for the first time, but as an adult, I definitely see it now. For me, this is what makes this book so special and unique in the series. It's the only one that I can think of (to be fair, as I'm re-reading the series, maybe I'll discover another book was also trying to spread a message that I just missed in previous readings) that has a message it is trying to share. It's well done. Sure, at the core it's a book about an elf girl who is ridiculously overpowered who gets away with breaking too many rules. But, it also has a wonderfully told message, and I don't think this should be overlooked.