Slow, self-satisfied and disappointing

Interesting in its lack of narrative interest.

It's complacently confusing and the writing feels very self-satisfied.

It seems to be a book aimed at young adults who grew up surrounded by Harry Potter, animes and shonen mangas. I do love animes and mangas but probably like it a little more subtle and better digested.

What was fun in the first book now gets boring.

There are great moments, but they are drowned in so much withholding that it is not a pleasant reading at all.

Many reviews have stated that the last third/fourth of the novel was very rewarding. To me, action does not necessarily mean it will move the story forward in a meaningful, clever or satisfying way. Most of it is done by characters that appear out of nowhere and only matter to the author, who does not take the time to flesh them out or make them interesting. It feels very referential/intertextual but in relation to characters, books or episodes that actually don't exist. Meanwhile, the real protagonists remain on the side, watching, quite powerless.

And the ending, contrary to book one, is a let down. It feels like reading 250000 words for... not much satisfaction. Even the protagonists' story arcs are unfulfilled.

On that point... There is also a striking lack of diversity in characterization. All characters are similarly toxic and smug. They despise one another, despise the protagonist even more, and the protagonist despises them and despises herself even more. While being smug. And toxic. And self-satisfied. Like the writing.

And of course, a bit similarly to book 1, the protagonist is confused, powerless, and has no clue about what is going on.

The best things in this series are the first pages, the covers, and the amazing love the fans are pouring into it. All of that--including the cool catchphrases on the book covers and back-covers--is incredibly misleading, though.

I might take a look at book 4 but I'll make sure to skip book 3, which, apparently, was initially meant to be the prologue of the last installment of the trilogy, and must therefore be even more pointlessly withholding things than the first 2 books.

Two cool characters are not enough, narration matters too. As well as a good story.