Again, I was a bit disappointed by a sequel from Adrian Tchaikovsky. Not as much as with Children of Ruin which I didn't even finish, but after the big revelation at the end of Shards of Earth, the story revolves a lot about the motives established in the first book, without expanding on it. At the end of this book, we know as much about the architects as at the end of book one. Without the ragtag crew of the vulture god, I would not have finished this book as well.