Seeing as Rebel of the Sands are some of my favorite books, I wanted more from this. Partly, when I found out this was set in the same world as that, AND one of the characters were present and still alive, I thought there’d be, if not callbacks, at least some easter eggs. Sadly, I found none. Aside from that, this book is just not as strong, as I’d expected from Hamilton. The writing is good, the concept is interesting, but it almost tries to do too much; with the trials going on on top of Nora’s secret murder investigation, plus the kidnapping, Lotte appearing as a lost heir, a class-revolution, and I might’ve forgotten something, and with the multiple POVs, the result ends up being kind of messy, and none of the storylines line up that satisfying. I think the idea was “interesting power plot” but the reality is more, in my opinion, a lesson in kill-your-darlings. There’s just so much going on, that we don’t get to enjoy any of it, because Hamilton didn’t have the space in the book to give all of it their proper dues. It’s still a well-written, interesting book. I just wanted it to be a new favorite.

This book… THIS BOOK! I almost didn’t read it, I can’t even believe that. But I almost didn’t, because I couldn’t find it anywhere. So in the end I pirated it. Which I felt bad about, but now I feel WORSE, cause it’s SO GOOD, and I want a physical copy, but you can’t get this one anywhere; you can get the first one, but not this one, and why; and also I totally understand why people thought there’d be a third book, cause it SO needs one, and SCWAB, WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!