Honestly, I found this sequel to be disappointing 😔 I'm really tired of saying this about fantasy sequels these days!

With how slowly and methodically the first book was paced, I was expecting a lot more action in this follow-up. We already know a lot about the world, the characters, and the political situation; the clear path forward would be to take all of that set-up and have some payoff. Right? Well... 😭

To Ride a Rising Storm isn't so much a sequel as it is an extension of To Shape a Dragon's Breath. By and large, this book is structured in exactly the same way. Anequs begins the book on her home island of Masquipaug. Then she goes to school and learns things. Then in the last thirty pages, the action arrives, and the book ends. Needless to say, I was pretty let down by how little plot progression was achieved in this book, seeing as very little on that front was accomplished in the first 💀

We are introduced to some new characters that do a bit to freshen up the dynamic. Jadi is great! But the members of the DGT are all virtually interchangeable, and really only exist to spout ignorant rhetoric and give Anequs a reason to provide the reader with numerous "teaching moments". One of the things I really liked about the first book was that this never felt like the case; characters existed outside of being verbal sparring cannon fodder. But I straight up could not name a single trait of any of the DGT members 💀 Or name them at ALL, for that matter.

While there is a lot of progression of the political situation in this book, we are actually given very little direct experience with it after the first quarter, which was aggravating. The series is clearly trying to be political fantasy, but I need to be in the thick of it to care about what's happening, and for the majority of this book we're only TOLD about the political situation. Anequs is rarely ever directly involved, and that results in a lack of tension and investment on the part of the reader. The fact that the storm finally breaks only tens of pages from the end, and then the novel ends at the height of the action, just felt like a slap in the face to be honest.

Complaints aside (though they are some pretty substantial ones), everything I liked about the first novel I continued to enjoy here. The world-building continued to impress me with its breadth and depth, even though I wish there was less of it to make room for some more forward momentum with the plot. I liked how Anequs's relationships with Theod and Liberty progressed in this book, and her new friendship with Jadi. I'm interested to see more from Sadsong and Gerdasson. I do wish we got even a little bit of development from Marta this book, though. She's stagnated a lot, and it feels like her only role in the story at this point is to say something ignorant and then pull out the white woman tears, which isn't very compelling. Even just a tiny bit of growth, whether positive or regressive, would have done wonders in making her feel less one-note, and it's not as if there wasn't page time for it. She was as forgettable as the DGT members in this book.

I will continue on in the series, but I'm really gonna need that third book to make up some serious ground in terms of plot. I'm crossing my fingers, because I think this series has some serious potential, and I really hope it doesn't squander it 😭

3.5/5.