Warning: spoilers (maybe?) This book took its time to grow on me. I’m almost sure that if I hadn’t liked the first one as much as I did or liked the writing style of Hannah Whitten so much that I would have dnf’d it. In the end though it was well worth it. I think my problem was that for the longest time I could not find a shred of sympathy for our main character - Neverah. I just didn’t like her and it’s hard to read a book with a main character that you don’t like and don’t really want to read about. But that changed in the end and I’m glad that I stuck to it. Hannah Whitten writes beautifully, honestly like no other author I’ve picked up so far - lush and colorful and wonderfully descriptive. Still, at times the book gets repetitive, like cups or mugs that are always chipped and Neverah (very) often comments on her companion smelling like pine. It gets a bit annoying to be honest but can be easily ignored. There are some inconsistencies in the story that are a bit harder to ignore, though, or perhaps I just didn’t pay enough attention - wouldn’t put that past me. How can she see Valchior in the cave of the Serpent when she just described how dark it is in there? How do some creatures leave bones and others do not? Why do they go on and on about dying in different ways when truly they can’t? And that one intimate scene at the beginning of the books feels rather out of place now that I’ve finished the whole thing. Again, I might’ve missed something and those little problems/questions I had were explained and I just missed it. All in all I liked the book. Quite a lot actually. The whole story, so first and second book combined, is beautiful and unique. And the second book is the perfect conclusion. Even if it took its time getting there.