With how much I loved the fifth season, I wouldn't have guessed the second book would win me so easily. This is everything that made me devour the first book times 3.

The prose remains beautiful, both playing with words to invoke the magical and keeping it real so to not brush off the violent. It romanticises the world, and believes in humanity, but never pretends we're anything but flawed and ugly. It believes in us anyway.

I really like the new characters and setting, specially the parallels with seeing both Nassun and Essun evolve in such different ways. It's very pleasurable watching all the lore built up on the previous book slowly clicking into place and forming a full picture.