I'm surprised at how well the lower stakes of this book worked for me. It allowed me to simply have fun with the characters, which is what I needed to grow closer to them (especially Lila--I didn't care for her in the first book, but she was my favorite part of this one!). I enjoy reading about all the main characters (Alucard is another standout of the book) and now care about them a TON, which sets me up incredibly well to be worried about the final book in the trilogy...