This book unfortunately suffered from Second Book Syndrome. The first 150 pages or so are very boring and slow. It's basically the first book all over again, but in a different setting with a new trade. (Instead of Micah learning how to be a trapeze artist in a circus, they're learning how to become a magician.) I nearly DNFed it because I was so bored and forcing myself to read it.

Worst of all, I started to notice Lam's writing style. For me, a good book makes me forget I'm even reading a book. If I start to notice sentence structure and grammar, I'm not into the book and I'm not enjoying it. I had this issue a lot. Lam's writing style is definitely very simplistic; the sentence structure is almost exactly the same for every single sentence. It started to grate on me after a while and that was really disappointing, especially because I don't remember if her writing style bothered me in the first book. I'll have to check my review.

Luckily, I stuck with it and it did get better.

I greatly enjoyed the inclusion of Cyan. She was a very interesting character and I really liked her.

The magic stuff did get boring at times, but the stuff about the Shadow was interesting. I just wish there had been more of it. It felt like a side plot when it really should have been the main plot.

There was a lot more world development this time around, which I was very happy about. I have a much better understanding of the world Micah lives in and all of the fantasy elements that are happening. I really do think the world building was the best part of this book.

I am glad that I forced myself to keep reading this book, as it did get better and I did enjoy the end. However, the beginning was a struggle and I did have some issues with the book overall. So it was slightly disappointing after how much I enjoyed the first book. I am most definitely going to read the next book, as I still enjoy the characters and the world, but I think my expectations have been lowered slightly.