4.5 Even better than the first book. This author seems to get better as she goes with a series. Her Hallows series was the same, each book got better. I had moments of tears, laughter and holding my breadth. Fantastic tale of love, magic, trust, betrayal and love. A wonderful audio book.
Alissa has a major change in herself to deal with, two men of interest, and a nasty evil man trying to take over the world. Strell is sweet loyal and loving but I am dreaming of another love for her one that resides in Ese'Nawoer. ( )

So it's a little, itty, bitty, bit better than the first book. Again, the author has established a great world and a really good running story/mystery in this one. But, she still bugs me. Stupid girl. ( )

This was a fine followup to the first in this series. I admit to not fully being immersed in this universe in the first. I liked the story well enough, but I wasn't truly drawn in. I find with this one, i have actually fallen in love with the characters and the story. The addition of Lodesh and a fuller understanding of the 'city of the dead' are just icing on the cake. I'm actually looking forward to grabbing the next two in the series. ( )

I enjoyed this book more than I did the first in the series because there was a little more excitement. It wasn't a very adventurous book considering the character spend just about all their time locked in the Hold. It still kept my interest, making me eager to finish it.

However, I did hate the antagonist. That's not hate in a good way either. The antagonist, Bailic, was not evil. Sure, he talked evilly of turning people against each other. He also got angry a lot. That's about it. I found myself seeing him as more of a nuisance than anything, especially when he would round a corner and find the two main characters doing something they shouldn't be. The two main character themselves didn't even really care about upsetting him; they were late for his "appointments" countless times. I wish we could have seen him do more, than be told of what a bad person he was. The book consisted of a good portion of telling and not showing, but at least the telling was told in a creative way.

Considering the entire book takes place in this Hold where the two main characters and Bailic are confined, making him a little more fearful would have made a better story. The non-evil characteristic that Bailic isn't even the worst of it. The worst was between the first book and the second one, he hasn't become any smarter. He's still the ol' stupid Bailic that has been tricked countless times. He thinks Strell is the one possessing magical abilities, when it is obviously Alissa. After all, she is the one having tea parties with the Master of magic. But no, he doesn't realize who she is until it's stuffed under his nose and THEN he realizes "hey she has grey eyes, so she must be the daughter of that powerful magician I knew from childhood." And then he has the nerve to forget this, and when she transformed into a dragon, standing beside her master, he asks "Who is this female-dragon?" When prior to this event we are informed about the her obvious gray eyes while in dragon form. I laughed at his oblivious state while interrogating about how this female-dragon that suddenly appeared out of no where was.

He also spends his entire life obtaining a book and teaching a Keeper to open it. When it's finally open he's not sure how to use it.

Sigh. It sounds like a lot of complaining, but if you can look past the stupidity of the "evil" villian it really is a great book. The lead character, Alissa, troubles herself with learning magic and staying on Bailic's good side all the while maintaining her sanity by engaging in fun activities with the male lead character, Strell. The book is told from various other perspectives--pretty much every character introduced in the book gets to narrate a chapter or two.

Characters and opinions are as follows:

Bailic - the bad villain of the book whose soul purpose is to open a book so he can awake a bunch of dead people for his own selfish reasons
Alissa - She is the main character. Throughout the book she learns magic from an instructor, this becomes an interesting sort of father-daughter relationship. The book consists much of seeing her perform (and attempting) magic.
Strell - The male character of the book. He is locked up in the Hold with Alissa. He is not only bound there by a promise that can't be unbroken, but his purpose is to protect who he loves. A good portion of the book revolves around his troubled thoughts of leaving her, or being with her. If you haven't guessed, it's Alissa who he loves.
Talo-Toecan - the instructor of magic. The Master of the Hold, as he is called. He teaches Alissa all the magic she needs to know, and informs her on all the information of the Hold and other necessities of the book.
Lodesh - a nice comic relief. I enjoyed him because his humor wasn't forced. It was his personality that I found amusing. He is sort of the leader of the dead city, Ese' Nawoer. He watches over Alissa as instructed by Talo-Toecan, and this causes conflict. ( )