Holly Black has definitely a way with words and especially with expressing emotions. What a character development and holy fuck - those plot twists! This book took me under its spell and everything the series lacked for me in the first book surprised me unexpectedly behind every page I turned in this second one

So glad that I finally finished in my third attempt at this book. I definitely forgot how good fantasy could be (don’t make me start on true slow burns). The scheming is just 🤌🏻. I feel pretty proud about having the right intuition and guessing a lot of turns and understanding the motivation of some characters. I am immediately unto book three.

One of my favs don’t hate

that plot was twisting and turning more than a fucking hurricane

I considered stopping this book a LOT. I think, at some point, something was missing with only Jude’s pov. I wish I could have Cardan’s pov sometimes, just to understand him better and to not feel desperate after the end. Don’t get me wrong – I know the author wants us to be just like Jude, to feel what Jude feels, and the strategy is great. From unreliable narrator she jumps to the one being unable to trust Cardan. I absolutely LOVE Cardan standing up for himself, gaining power. The end is jaw dropping but it all happened so fast????? I wasn’t ready and I don’t think I’m reading for the third book – though I will read it right now. However I felt that the chapters were sooooo long – nothing was happening, only bla-bla and imagine, and then boom something huge happened - and this again and again, losing my concentration and interest only to captivate me again for a short moment. I guess this book is not for me because I heard so many things from booktok – I have expectations. I hate reading it like this but I can’t help myself. So I guess it’s a kind of lesson? I’ll try to go into that third book blindly, though. 3,5⭐️