With so much respect to V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke, it’s bluntly obvious thriller/mystery is not their usual genre to write in. It felt like their focus when writing this book was on the commentary around the publishing industry and its hardships, which I do think was important here, but the mystery aspect was left to the side when this was supposed to be, in fact, a mystery book.

The premise is interesting and the book has a nice introduction that makes you want to feel invested in the mystery and who’s going to come out victorious in the end, but so much happens in the meantime that deviates from what was the initial plot and it just gets messy. The plot is not cohesive, it has no structure and it doesn’t feel like it has a purpose. There were a lot of moments that I would hope something would happen and when it did… it brought nothing to the story. Sure, a lot of it gets explained at the end, but it doesn’t have any actual impact or reason in the moment.

The characters were such a waste and so much more could’ve been done with them. We learn so much about them, with some having such interesting backgrounds and important reasons to want to win this competition, but again none of it is actually impactful. So much time is wasted on insignificant details, so many chapters in povs of useless (and infuriating) characters, not to mention the amount of plot points that I thought were going to come up later in the book and change the trajectory of the plot but that were just forgotten and never picked up again.

All of this for an ending that isn’t even satisfactory but instead predictable and dull.

Thank you to my two friends who listened to me rant about this book as I was reading it, especially my poor housemate who I bothered constantly with it.

I read the first Lady's Knight book at the end of 2025 and I hadn't been able to stop thinking about it. I liked the overall romance and the plot but the strange world building and modern anarchisms really bothered me and so it lingered in my mind. So I awaited for this sequel, maybe not eagerly, but I awaited.

I have spent most of my day yesterday and this morning reading this book. I did not like it.

I was able to ignore a lot of the weirdness of the world this time because it did lean more into the whackier side of things. Did not enjoy the fact it was written as Englande or the other weird mediaeval spellings but whatever there's a giant sea monster I can now suspend my disbelief. I've finally made a tentative peace with it.

What I did not make my peace with is how... contrived this entire book felt. Characters get interrupted during important conversations (I counted it was like seven times) that they then never pick up on until way way later. Miscommunication is ever present and permeates the entire book to the point I was no longer like I want to see these two together, I think they should break up. I hate miscommunication as a trope and this book just felt like an egregious example of how annoying it can be. Like sure lie about that thing that you should just share sure what the hell who gives a fuck.

Most of the book is miscommunication. It's only past 80% it feels like actual plot happens and there's actual reveals and development.

Also, a lot of development happens off screen in the narrator sections. They were more frustrating to me this book then they were in Lady's Knight. I do not appreciate being told how to feel and having things spelt out for me. I do not appreciate having the flow completely interrupted by a grating voice that condescends to me.

The book did imply there'll be another sequel and I don't know if I will read it after reading an entire book that felt like it was happening for the sake of happening.

All that being said easy 5 stars if Gwen wore a gambeson under her chain mail instead of wearing it right over her dress.