I think this would have been better as a trilogy. Everything would have been better extended. It was lacking the banter and group camaraderie I really wanted, yes there was some towards the end but it could have been so much better and allowed us to feel those bonds more strongly. Caiman and Grayson could have had more of a highlight; their relationship and banter and past with Ikenna. The war with ye blood emperor started and ended pretty fast and we mostly saw it on vid screens as it was large scale. The depth fand impact would have been stronger if it had been extended and Ikenna and the group actually had to fight the war instead of just circumventing the actual war part to go straight to the blood emperor. I also would have liked more time to develop the relationship with Ajani and also time for Ikenna to learn more about the Accacia part of her heritage and see than not all accacians were blood thirsty evil people. The possibilities for this were huge and I’m sad we didn’t get that. I think that is perhaps why I found myself far more interested in the Tribune section of the war. We finally got the ending that has been set up since the very beginning, but again, I feel this could have been delivered better over more time - it ended very easily and was basically a breeze for Ikenna … I wanted more. I appreciate the author did try and add some obstacles but it fell a little flat for me.

And then the third storyline of the Gods wanting to return … that definitely set up for another book/ series. Because of that the krashna scenes were too quick. He was the scary big bad and again Ikenna defeated him in less than a half hours, probably minutes? It was a lot to put into one book and the author did pull it all tougher well but I just felt it was rushed and slow in varying places and missed hitting some things that would have made it epic.

However I did enjoy it. It was a good continuation on the first one. Lots of fighting and battles. The characters I liked although Ikenna was too brash and arrogant too often and she also just levelled up and mastered her power so easily… literally, she asked to master it and the Goddess was like sure cool here you go. Again, if it had been a trilogy Ikenna might have had time to actually work for the power. I do really loved the world and liked how it ended - though, it did seem a little too easy… everyone just happily accepting a completely new order and Ikenna being a competent enough statesman to draw up government legislation for people to sign??

I know I picked a lot in this review but it was a good read, a good continuation of the first one and an expansion of a world I came to love. I just wanted it to dig deeper that it did. Still, a fast paced, high action adult fantasy / sci fi duet with characters frighting for freedom from tyrants. Definitely worth reading!