"We have been allowed selfishness. But so many in this city have not. I cannot find my own peace unless I help them.'

The second part of the duology starts four months after the Monster has been shot and the two families are back on revenge sprees following the death of Marshall Seo. Juliette and Roma are fending both internal and external forces which threaten their position in Shanghai. Both historical foreign and domestic communist characters are more embedded into the developing story as Juliette and Roma are positioned to join forces against a second Monster with a different Master.

Tyler, Rosalind, Kathleen and Benedict have more scenes this time; and there is more context to their characters and the urgency in which they are working to preserve their position and the way they wish their Shanghai world to be run. I enjoyed the plot development more with this book; there was more context to ground the scenes. I also developed more interest in Rosalind as her arc grew.

There were some familiar characters from the first part of the duology who has taken a backseat to this finale; they seemed to have been placed in 'filler' scenes which added slightly to the story but could have been edited out too. I felt the story was stilted on occasion and could have moved much faster, but I also appreciate the need to wrap up the story and build the background to the next duology which sees some familiar characters return...

Overall this was a satisfying end of the duology, but the first book better in terms of intensity, world building and dialogue.