Rating with the bonus stories: 5 out of 5 stars.
Rating without the bonus stories: 4 out of 5.
I loved the bonus stories and how they added to the world through characters you don't get to read about (Ericen and Kiva).
This is the one problem with sequels is that the author is assuming the readers remember things in the first book (I thought Cayus was ten with the way she was describing him, and the only character I remembered was Ericen although I thought the ending was them standing on the dock while she was on the boat, but that apparently was not the case. The crows did all get murdered though and later rediscovered in the castle, that was the only thing I remembered correctly). I guess one of the positives is that the author did not bombard us with all the info from the first book like most books are inclined to do, but it was gradually throughout the book. Good news: it wasn't information overload. Bad news: as clearly stated earlier I could not remember things from the first book, so I was lost for a vast majority of the story. There was a lot of who is this character to her again? Oh, that's who that person was. I couldn't even recall the villain, guys.
I'm not trying to make it out like the book sucked or anything, it's just a sequel and comes with the usual bouts of not being as great as the first (does anyone know of a second book being better than the first? I cannot name one, although if you do feel free to recommend in the comments below.)
The world building was okay, but I wished the author had expanded on things a little more like the holidays and celebrations because I had no clue what any of them were for and why they needed to get there before the celebrations commenced. I did love the training of Res though and found that adorable as he got put through his paces. I do love the explanation as to why he can access all eight abilities (Sella? Seela? blood anyone).
I did love those creatures as they reminded me so much of proper fae where they are just as likely to cause mischief as they are to help you and even their help might not be so helpful. I loved how each one controlled an aspect that correlates to a crow. (oops I might have spoiled something sorry, its crossed out now y'all).
My favorite characters were Ericen and Res because both are absolute sweethearts and will do anything to protect those they care about.
I could have sworn the Sella doors were in the first book and maybe the character did not remember it because I remember reading those exact words before even though this is my first time reading this book.
This could be a good thing or a bad thing you interpret how you wish: the battle scenes felt like something out of the LOTR movies like I was expecting Gandalf to come riding down a hill with a herd of horses and men. Thankfully, that did not happen, but I could not shake that image out of my head especially since there are a lot of parallels which I will not tell you. You will only have to read the book to see if you draw the same conclusions or if it is just me because we do a LOTR movie marathon every year (hence why I cannot spell anything).
Besides the general confusion and LoTR like battles, I liked the book overall. I will read it again preferably right after the first one to see if maybe my memory will be a little bit sharper.
4 out of 5 stars. Recommend if you don't mind sequels (honestly I feel like we cannot expect much from sequels because of how frequently there is a disconnection between the first and second).
Oh, and the second one kind of starts off where the first one ends, which was helpful (very helpful indeed in making sure I knew that I did not remember as much of the first book as I thought I did).
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