The worldbuilding was what really stood out for me in the first book in this series, and in this sequel the worldbuilding continues to be the highlight.  The relationship between Io and Giant, and their people's perceptions of each other, was one of the most fascinating parts of this story for me.  The use of different languages' terms throughout - 'grignoter' from French, 'chisme' from Spanish, and so on - I found interesting (and entirely believable given the world this book is set in); 'grok' and 'donkulus' did not work so well.

In my review of the book's predecessor, The Mimicking of Known Successes, I noted that I found the relationship between Mossa and Pleiti less interesting than the other aspects of the book (the plot/mystery, the setting, etc.); I would say the same here, but this book focuses more on the relationship and so didn't interest me as much as the first.  There are way to many words here that are some variant of 'but how does she feel about me?!' for me.

Content warnings: murder (not on-page), violence