Rating: 5++ / 5
If Volume 1 of the Liar Game gives readers a sense of Nao's naivete as a character, and how easily people can be tricked when they are lied to be someone that they trust, then Volume 2 definitely ups the ante and shows how complicated lying can become when alliances are necessary to survive.
Forced to continue into Round 2 of the game, Nao finds herself with other winners of the first round, which of course makes things more difficult. You could say that while Round 1 included many amateurs--Nao especially--Round 2 is peopled with those who have already proven adept at lying, making things more difficult to contend with for an honest person like Nao. Through a stroke of luck though, Akiyama ends up at her side as well, which gives her some hope for being able to win the round and avoid debt.
The fact that things are further complicated by making a mystery enemy, "Mr. X", part of the round just makes things all the better! It exposes part of the truths behind the Liar Game, in that even if the rules seem straightforward, how players play definitely isn't. Mr. X snuck into the game much like Akiyama, and this likewise makes him more dangerous to contend with than just the average players who are part of the game and have the possibility of debt to worry about.
The psychological navigations of everything here have a lot to do with group mentality, observations, making the best use of one's time, and also, surprisingly, what emotional reactions can give away. It's sometimes only by giving no response yourself and just observing the responses of others that the most can be discovered.
In any case, for readers overall, I would recommend that even if they weren't all that impressed with the first round of the Liar Game (in Volume 1), that they at least continue reading into Volume 2 to really give the series a chance, as this is definitely more well done here, and delves more into psychology than before.
Again, a definite favourite and re-re-re--re(and so on)-reread of mine!