Corinthya

I really was gonna give this book 2.5 stars but i think the end earned more 0.5 so it's a 3 stars...

A world I enjoy and still catches me by surprise.

• The world building pulls from the other series in this universe and makes it feel very satisfying for me. I started in this world in the wrong order so I have a few spoilers that make this installment still feel very satisfying even if at the moment the main plot might not have made so much sense otherwise.
• The main female character is not a super physically fit character to start with which to me makes her feel more approachable because her strengths are many in the intelectual realm. So she adapts very quickly to her changing situation.
• Her male counterpart is very influenced by his species traits and is very driven from their connection in their interactions. So comes on very strong but not assholish.
• The side characters have a few standouts for me but somehow her cousin is not one of them even though she talks about her a lot.
• The main plot in the game and it gets very complicated very quickly, the author tries to make it make sense to us the strategies and all that but i could only really follow part of it and mostly because I had already the third installment in the universe that i think was better developed.
• The final 2 plot twists really made me want to keep going right away.

In the end it was a really good book for me, set in a world i've come to really love and will definitely continue reading.

A good read.

• The world got a bit of an expansion and we got to know other places, and their situations.
• This book suffered a bit of the second book syndrome, to me if felt like it dragged a bit more and that it was a lot of setup for the next book.
• We get a lot more work on the relationships and therefore more time spent with the love interests. That leads to a few personal arguments and such that didn't always feel very well developed for me but it didn't detract from the story too much.
• The mystery to solve in this book is a bit of the continuation from the previous book but felt less surprising.

Overall still a good book and I'll keep going but not as enthusiastically as the first.

Really enjoyed this one.

• The writing was good, worldbuilding was nice even if because it's an urban fantasy it doesn't need the same amount of work as a fantasy.

• The mystery was well done and kept me engaged until the end leaving me wanting to dive into the next book right away.

• The female character was strong and capable while not being cold and aloof.

• The male leads had different personalities and strengths. Weren't all out a-holes that controlled and never listened to her.
• The romance was not too fast even if i thought it could have used a little more building.

Overall a good read that assures my going into the next one.

A good ending to these characters' stories that still left a lot open.

• The world was further developed with a lot more story being added to the witches backstory that ended in a satisfying way for their part of the conflict.
• The romance didn't overall conquer me, it was nice but it didn't keep me very engaged. Some of the issues they had in their relationships were underwhelming and felt like extras.
• Family discoveries were finally all revealed and while they didn't feel particularly surprising for me they didn't disappoint.
• There were many points of conflict to solve and they were all interesting but the pacing felt very abrupt. They kept trying to do them all at the same time and so switched from one to the next at points that didn't feel very natural for me in writing even if timing wise they made sense.

In conclusion, while the ending left a new page open for some answers i'd like the fact that they're extras and not the main focus of the next book made me decide not to continue with this. It was well written but since I like a bit more character driven reading and am influenced by how much i like them or not it felt satisfying enough to finish here.