OKAY - While I gave TVD closer to a 5 star, this definitely sits on the lower 4.

I still absolutely enjoyed my time with this book. there were so many moments where I GASPED, yelled, tried to figure out who was behind it all, etc. Chloe Gong does a great job of not giving the reader or the characters a break. However, I will say that this book took more turns than I was expecting in kind of a bad way.

The political intrigue is there and I appreciate the rival gangs and the chaos that comes with it all. What I found difficult to continue enjoying was how much it felt like the plot was twisting in SO many different directions. I think if there were like 2 out of the 10 conflicts removed, it would have made the jumping around much easier to follow and keep track of?? Normally when I listen to audiobooks, I can't keep track of everything BUT THIS TIME I SWEAR IT WASN'T ME LOL. Listening to this via audio was the best experience in terms of following along with the story, feeling the intensity, and really staying invested, even when from 25%-50% felt SLOWWW as all heck.

I just think that if the pacing of the story and the overall conflicts were refined JUST a hair bit more, I would've given this a solid 5 star. Nonetheless, I think Chloe has a great way of building characters overtime (I definitely think Roma STILL could've developed more from book 1 and through book 2), and she created an atmosphere that felt palpable!

So excited to get into Foul Lady Fortune soon!