Those Once Forgotten

4.5 stars  Second book in the space opera Waystation trilogy, this continues the events of the previous as the different characters brace themselves for the arriving of a mysterious enemies. 
I loooooved this as much as the first book.  The author does such a great job with the world building and I loved the type of big bad enemies the characters are confronted with.  The characters are still compelling in their struggles and arcs though some more than others. I especially liked Niole (queennnn also her relation with Serric is developing in a very interesting direction I'm looking forward to it) and Rivus (his relationship with his best friend was properly angsty just as I like it) PoVs. Loved reading Alvara's parts which were creepy and added an horror element, Ridley's was interesting plot wise but the sapphic yearning was the best part, Kojan wasn't my favourite but I do like his friendship with Eleion.  Plot wise this was great though I felt some elements were developed too quickly.  Still I'm definitely looking forward to reading the third book. 

"We are those who resist."

I'm still really enjoying this series, but I felt like things dragged near the middle of this book a bit. My attention wandered in a few chapters, and one of the points of view I really liked from the first book seemed utterly different in this one.

Book two picks up where book one left off, with the waystations starting to pop off with mysterious signals, and each of the main players from the first book off on their own little adventures. We follow these different characters on their stories, with Kojan trying to come to terms with his impending death-by-implant-malfunction, Rivus butting heads with Tarvan over whether they should secure a friendship with the enemy-of-my-mysterious-enemy and create a united front, Niole trying to figure out if she's Idran-Var or a legionnaire, and Ridley waxing hot and cold over Halressan (mostly hot) and supposedly doing stuff plot-related, but not a lot actually happens with her.

If you couldn't tell from that, Ridley's POV was my least favorite in this book. (character/plot spoilers here) She's nowhere near the scrappy human-dumped-into-an-alien-underworld she was in the first book. Now she's attached at the hip to Halressan, who spends most of this book ignoring her. I also don't really know what she contributed to the overall plot beyond jetting out to some remote corner of the galaxy and waking up an old siolean goddess-but-not-really. In the first book she moved a lot of plot, had a lot of spunk, and was pretty badass. Now she's kinda moony and can't seem to decide what she wants to do for herself anymore. I don't know, not my thing. But beyond that, the rest of the book was pretty great. Without having to take time to do as much worldbuilding and story setup, this book was very much wall-to-wall action. Lots of flashy things happen to keep you interested, and I particularly liked Rivus's POV in this one. The angst he feels over his best friend is fantastic.

Just an overall really interesting, fun sci-fi book. Absolutely picking up book 3.