2.5⭐️ i had high expectations for this, as book one was my first 5 star of this year. while the first book was full, fleshed out, and could stand alone, this felt like more of a transitional novel to get ready for the next book.
our previous main character’s old roommate from the city, rinka, is finally making the move to come and live with alison in wilderise. during her travels, rinka meets a man she’s immediately drawn to, who seems to be hiding who he really is. after their ship is attacked by pirates, they’re forced to stick together in order to make it to their destination. after her reunion with alison, rinka is thrown undercover into the glamour of politics and nobility as she, alison, and the townspeople plan to save the fate of wilderise.
ambitious, but ended up having too much going on at once and lacked depth overall. book one brought us into a magical, whimsical world with characters that are all going through grief in different ways. book two was just… a lot of random plot, with very little to show for it at the end. i was excited about it being a dual POV between alison and rinka, but i think it was more of a hinderance with capturing the scope of their stories. there is a HUGE reveal smack dab in the middle of the book that should have been so much more central to the storyline, but it is never expanded on or mentioned again.
i wasn’t interested in the royals. i liked how the first book was centered around the townspeople and their way of life, this went very heavy on the new characters which i just couldn’t bring myself to care about (aside from rinka, although i wasn’t expecting the direction her character took). it seemed like it attempted a bridgerton moment that was just… an odd fit in the overall story. the romance was way too lust-heavy (no spice) to be believable or taken seriously, there also just wasn’t enough time on paper of them together for the connection to really flourish. it needed at least another 50 pages in total to fully flesh out all the plot points, unfortunately it jumps around quite a bit after the 60% mark, after a fairly slow start. definitely disappointing, i’m still considering whether i’ll continue the series.
*I received an advanced review copy for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily*