It’s been a long time since I read the first book, so I had to re-read it before beginning this one. As with the Physick Book, I enjoyed the story very much, particularly the history and the magical elements, but if I was hoping that this follow-up novel would redeem Connie‘s character, I was sadly disappointed. She remained the least curious, most exasperatingly uninformed historian I’ve ever come across. And while I won’t spoil it, I’ll just say that the way she spent the decade since discovering her powers is not the way I - or any respectable heroine IMO - would have done it.

I don’t regret reading Howe’s novels, but books like these make me sad at their waste of potential - they were only good, when they could have been amazing.