Unwanted Opinions of a YA Writer
I have written thirteen novels in the genres of YA fantasy, science fiction, and contemporary, and I still have no idea what I'm doing. I am a biology student and spend 6-8 hours of my day talking to flies, so don't take any advice from me.
A good sequel on par with the first book (and depending on how it goes, the third book could be the best yet). I like this series but I don't love it. The pacing is smooth and the plot catches me by surprise at least once a book; the writing is great and takes risks with the style and prose (ie The Page in this one), which I like. It gets bonus points for a PoC hero but negative points for a redheaded heroine (actually my least favorite trope in all of YA--if I'm not already into a series I've started putting books down when I discover they have this). Somehow I just find myself wishing the series had a little more heart. It's an intangible thing that separates series I'll reread over and over from series I enjoy the first time and am happy leaving it at that.Regardless, I'm really glad I read this when the last book is already out! The first thing I did after finishing this was put Shades of Earth on hold at the library. I'm really excited and nervous about where it could go and I think it'll probably meet my expectations!
