I recently read The Bone Season and absolutely loved it; it was exactly the kind of epic urban fantasy I didn’t even know I was craving. This is the second book of the series, which is planned for seven books (the fifth of which just came out two weeks ago). I had a great time once again, and even though I can objectively recognize the second book syndrome, I didn’t care; my enthusiasm is just as high.

The fact of the matter is that the pacing of this one wasn’t as good as The Bone Season; I felt like I waited a really long time for the meat of it, which all came at the end. Things aren’t helped by the fact that we have a whole different setting filled with characters we barely knew from book one. That meant there was a lot of re-expositioning to do, all while we are wondering about the main plot burbling behind the scenes. Basically, it was definitely a bridge book to set up the rest of the series, linking our two main settings (and groups of characters) together.

And yet I can’t complain. I still had fun! Plus, when you have seven books planned, naturally you’re going to have stages of the story that feel like this along the way. This book is clearly setting up a LOT of room for the rest of the series to run, which I find extremely exciting!

I wanted to carry on with this series because I enjoyed the first book in the series and wanted to see what was going to happen to Paige and the gang after they escape from Oxford. However, this book had a lot of information dumping and I was just getting bored.  

This book is based on Paige Mahoney, and she has escaped the brutal prison camp of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the survivors are missing and she is now the most wanted person in London. As Scion turns its all-seeing eye on the dreamwalker, the mime-lords and mine-queens of the city’s gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take centre stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner. Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. But where is Warden? Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided.  

I felt like this was the first book in the series rather than the second book in the series. We were back at square one, I was very lost and confused for most of the book. I was expecting this to be about Warden and Julian and Paige and the survivors. It was a complete information overload and my head was hurting. I missed The Warden, and it shouldn’t have taken thirteen chapters to see him again. Another issue I have with the book and with Samantha Shannon’s writing is very big reveal or twist is very anti-climactic, I was just waiting for the reaction to be Holy Mother of Mary, and it just didn’t happen, it was just sort of crept in and then we moved on. Plus, I would have loved for this to be dual POV or even multiple POV with Warden and Jaxon having their own chapters, especially towards the start of the rebellion. 

Paige saved this book from being 2 stars. Her character development was the only thing that was keeping me sane. I loved that she was like yeah I've changed, I'll play all my cards right but I'm going to save everyone if I can because everyone should be trying to help anyone in need. I’m so glad she won that fight with Jaxon but I'm assuming he isn’t going to leave quietly. The ending got me back into it and wanting to know what the hell was going to happen. I’m assuming the Rag King is Jaxon, that’s my prediction before I carry on with the next book in the series.  

Overall, I was disappointed in this book and hoping that it’s the odd one out in the series and I enjoy the other books in the series.  

I have a deep love for Paige & most of the Seven Seals. I wanted to learn the world of the Syndicate in the first book so badly. I was incredibly excited for this book to understand who Paige was before & after Oxford.

I always knew Jaxon was a mf rat. When he said (I’m paraphrasing) that he knew more of Paige’s outings than she realized, I knew he was a rat. And I’m so so so sure that he was dying for money because he couldn’t sell Voyants since Paige was “home”

I loved her growth as a person, humanitarian, vigilante, savior, & dreamwalker. This book was nothing short of action packed, intriguing and difficult to put down. This is growing to be one of my favorite series, and I hope it only gets better from here.

I didn't really like this one as much as the other entries in the series when I first read the original text, but she really elevated her writing and pulled everything together in a much more cohesive way in this new edited version. 

Really I just love this series in general - the worldbuilding is wonderful, the characters are fantastic, and this book in particular has a really twisty murder mystery that is a ton of fun to read.

My only main complaint about this book is that Paige and Arcturus are separated for a great chunk of it (my shipper heart just wants them to be together 24/7).