Girls of Storm and Shadow

Second books in a trilogy have a challenge, especially with such a debut to follow.

After the smoldering intensity of the first book, Lei and Wren’s relationship quickly took a turn for the worse in the second book. Lei was still committed, but Wren distanced herself. She didn’t want to reveal their relationship to her father, and also didn’t appreciate Lei’s questions about her father’s intentions for the rebellion. And yet there’s also an ex that immediately pulls Wren’s attention once they come back into contact. Both of these story lines are not bad relationship story lines in general, necessarily, but they were not what I was expecting from the tone of the first book.

There is also the typical second book of a dystopian trilogy “everything gets unbearably worse” happening, but it’s not just the rebellion’s prospects of winning that seem dim.

There is much traveling to secure allies, politics the art of the possible is not how Lei understands you change the world for the better, however her lover and partner Wren was raised in these politics, and they struggle to reconcile these different beliefs.

There are also some large discoveries that I don’t want to spoil, but that change things dramatically. Lei miss identifying a sister to Wren leads to some pretty messed up results.

The conclusion is very cliff-hanging and I would recommend before starting this novel have a copy of the Girls of Fate and Fury to continue reading.