The sequel felt a little less packed than Wicked, but I don't know if that was necessarily a bad thing. Wicked had a LOT going on - a lot of different political strands, a huge cast of characters, and took place over many years. This one on the other hand mostly just follows one character through a relatively short span of time, mostly in very specific political scenarios, and relatively few of the supporting cast of characters become key players.

I'm not quite sure whether this is a good thing or not - on one hand, it possibly made the book more focused than Wicked, which was quite ambitious in trying to portray complex political systems. But on the other hand, it did feel less rich than Wicked did. 

I did enjoy watching the development of Liir, from a cynical and lost teenager, trying to figure out how to become an adult, and what he wants from the world. I enjoyed him considering Elphaba as a parent, and figuring out what he wanted to take from her in creating his own person. 

After his adventure with the Council of Birds, I thought it was nice how he was seemingly able to achieve things that Elphaba was never able to... but then it sort of fizzled out and didn't really lead anywhere meaningful? And by the end I'm still not sure I fully understand what journey exactly Liir has been on, and exactly how much closure he managed to attain.