Unfortunately, like the first book in this Duology, this book was a book of two halves for me. I started reading it in September, and have only just finished reading it now in December.

The first half felt soooooo slow for me and I just wasn’t feeling any compulsion to keep reading, but I wanted to finish this year without a big list of half-finished books so I forced myself to pick this back up, and somewhere just after half way I became thoroughly gripped and read the rest in two days.

After the ending of the last book (which was completely unexpected), I was so happy to be back with Kaz and his gang, recovering from their successful mission but reeling from their lack of money. And so starts a new scheme to get the money they were promised.

What I did love in this book is that we learn more of the back-stories of each of the characters and I felt like I was growing to love each of them by the time the book drew to a close. Even Kaz, the supposed meanest of the lot became someone I was rooting for to get the happiness I thought he deserved (despite all his scheming and killing).

The book was full of twists and turns and unlike other books in this genre, I wasn’t able to predict anything that was going to happen, and towards the end that meant I had my heart in my mouth a few times as things seemed to be unravelling. But of course, Kaz is always a few plans ahead of everyone else.

Having read the Shadow and Bone trilogy and now this duology, I hope I get to read the King of Scars duology soon. Although I’ve found these last two books slow to get going I’ve really enjoyed them once I’ve persisted, so I think I just need to persist more in future!