As this it the second in the series from Genevieve Cogman please see my last mini review HERE as much of it still stands in terms of writing and imagination.
I will say my earlier fears that the book would be contained to the same singular world were unfounded and greatly so. I love the different realms. It's something I've only seen done well once before by Ian McDonald in his Everness YA series (the third book of which I'll be getter around to soon).
Once again Cogman has surprised me with her invention, and not limited herself too much to just repeating 'past enemies in new situations' which I applaud. From the first book it was hard to imagine what the greater Fae would be like, given their nature as impossibilities, I did worry they'd be palmed off as formless abstracts but she has woven them into stories themselves giving them a wonderful dark fairy tale quality and introduced them in a relatively small part while over villains take the fore were there other writers may have jumped right in and rushed things. There are still also hints of deeper mysteries to keep you guessing. The greatest joy in both this book and it predecessor is the love of story and her openly playful writing.
The only really problem I have is Vale. As a character I can't stand him. I understand the arrogant Sherlock like detective, the archetype she is going for, but I can't find anything likable about him to off set the attitude. So I was overall pleased he didn't feature as much as I feared. Other than that there are moments where description becomes muddied and a little confused breaking narrative flow. Tiny things really and I can't wait to read the next.
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