A book club book! But also a book that I was always going to read on my own, since it's the sequel to The City We Became, which I absolutely loved.
It's always interesting reading something that you know is in a slightly different form than had been originally intended; this series was initially planned as a trilogy, rather than a duology, and there are aspects of the plotting that felt a bit like attempting to fit two suitcases' worth of clothes into one: there's not a lot of space for things to breathe, and there are definitely elements of it that I would have loved to have seen expanded, and entire sequels or tangents I would have read whole books about. But the fundamental themes and relationships that mattered so much to me in the first book still ring true in this one. She kept me on absolute pins and needles regarding one resolution that I was absolutely ready to burn down the world for, and when we got there it was worth it in the end. The first book captured me completely by the story itself, and the second was both about the text and about how she was able to arrive at the text, a lesson in the world shaping what stories we can tell and how. There was a defiance to the first book that was still present in the second one, but also an awareness of how long the fight is, and how many angles the enemy will pursue to further its goals. I'm so glad I got to read this ending.
Grade: A
