i have a very lukewarm opinion about this book. it’s a cute book, the premise and the format are interesting and unique. i love that the proses really made it seems like i’m reading a journal from 1990s and i do think the characters are charming. but i found that i’m dragging myself to finish this book. i just don’t think cozy books are for me. there is nothing to hook me back to the book, nothing that keep me coming back for more except the promise of cute emily and wendell interaction which is arguably the best part of this book.

there are some part of the book that i found a little bit eerie and creepy and i thought we finally get to the “good” part only for the resolution to be very anti-climactic. but i guess that is expected in a cozy books, it’s not supposed to be anxiety-inducing, it has to be somewhat comforting, so i don’t really see it as a bad thing necessarily just something that doesn’t fit my preferences. but other than that i quite enjoy the book and i can see why other people do too.

THE ENDING!!! i’m literally itching to start the third book!

i love that hobb didn’t just expand on the world but also gets deeper. we learn more about the wit and the skill, but we also started to explore the elderlings. we get to know more about the characters that we’ve met before, but we are also introduced to a plethora of interesting new characters such as nighteyes (which kinda steal the show imo) and little rosemary. it’s amazing how this is told in first person pov but you get to care about all of these characters. i personally grew really fond of all the female characters; patience, ketrikken, molly and even lacey and rosemary😭

fitz is a little older now. he is not just an obedient child anymore, things that happened in mountain kingdom + his puberty really changed him. he has a bit more bite to him (wink wink), he is a little more hot headed, he talks and fights back and he is yearning for love particularly molly’s. as i’ve come to realized a lot of people don’t vibe with the romance sub-plot but i actually really like it and i do think it’s important for fitz character development regardless of my opinion about their relationship in the end.

(speaking of romance, i would do anything to read more about patience/chivalry/burrich😫😫😫😫)

there are more tension, more intrigue, more drama, and more action in this book. i actually think this one is more fast paced and action-packed. fitz get to experience the battle first hand, we fight raiders now and the forge ones are more gruesome than in the first book. the political plotting is also more insidious, you feel like you can’t trust anyone. i feel anxious whenever i’m starting a new chapter, the first book feels like a cozy fantasy in comparison.

i don’t even know what i was expecting before i read this book but it definitely exceed that. this series is starting to become my hyperfixation, i genuinely can’t stop thinking about it