While it lacks the frenetic pacing and excitement of learning the fundamentals of the world, the sequel has other strengths. It feels like it eases into the world and takes a beat. It’s also a bit longer. I really like the main character and how inclusive the fiction is. He’s sympathetic and the opposite of a chosen one. He’s all support and tactics, all while being awkward with people but trying his best, and seems to be on the ace spectrum, and maybe bi/pan? He doesn’t try hard to figure it out and just rolls with situations in a clueless teenager type way. I like that he’s queer but whatever that identity is is coming about naturally and it doesn’t define him, as a lot of teen fic tends to be purely about that experience. All the other characters probably don’t get as much spotlight time in this one, and I was worried the larger overarching questions that are interesting wouldn’t be touched on in this one, since it’s a lot more about school and exams—thankfully the later half of the novel shifts gears and the things I liked the most about the plot and setting were touched on. There’s some new complexity to the magic, a couple new characters, and as usual, the fight sequences are fantastic. The audible narration felt like it was a bit better than the first book as well. All in all, it’s similar to the last one. I wouldn’t call it particularly thematically deep, but it knows what it’s doing and does it well. It’s lots of fun and makes for very addictive fiction.