Love this book just as much as the first. Lila and Kell went on different paths, but are reunited in an unexpected way during the magic tournament in Red London. 

God I love Kell. He’s my grumpy badass with an unending stream of love for those he cares about (which often presents itself as shoves and insults). I was slightly bored in the beginning when it was just Lila on the boat, but she’s just as badass as Kell, and I quickly got invested into her storyline too, which, unsurprisingly, became entwined with Kell’s during the competition. 

The big magic competition was surprisingly entertaining—I’m not usually a huge fan of competitions in fantasy novels, they tend to get a bit silly when describing the action (which is usually just flying colors or zaps of magic), but this was actually engaging. It kind of reminded me of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and I liked “seeing” how the different characters could wield the elements. The competition didn’t end how I thought it would, but I am notoriously terrible at guessing what happens next in books. 

I’m very very excited to continue this series!