4.5 stars
I greatly enjoyed the second installment in the Disillusionists Trilogy. Crane mixes well psychological warfare (albeit on a small scale), paranormal, romance and mystery rather well. Crane's characters are again strong, with Packard being my favorite. My only complaints revolve around Justine's thoughts with men, same as the first book. Her comments about Otto being perfect for her made me want to roll my eyes. Some of her reactions were questionable, but again she is a hypochondriac so she is used to her mind going overboard and it could easily breach other sections of thought.
The rating for this book was a solid four for the majority of the book then the last few chapters hit. Oh boy, the emotional roller coaster and subsequent frustration and NOOOOs ringing in my head pretty much solidified a better rating. If an author can mess with you like that they deserve kudos. I want to jump right into the last book of the trilogy but may hold off a bit simply to savor the series. I hope the finale is as good as the first two!
Publishers: still with the knife on the cover? WTF, there was no knife...AGAIN. Please read your own material! Also, what the hell is with the publishing schedule? First an audiobook? THEN an e-book? And still no date for a physical book? Please tell me other publishers will NOT start doing this too!