In many ways, book two of this trilogy impressed me. We got some nuance to our characters! Breeze, Ham, and Clubs being built out into three dimensions was a delight, and I enjoyed all my time with Sazed. Several of the twists completely surprised me! The ending, totally out of nowhere! I read the last ~50 chapters in three weeks because I felt like the pacing started to kick into high gear and draw me back to the story in a way I really love.
In other ways, Sanderson still isn’t my favorite. The writing is still simplistic, and I still find myself struggling to not skip passages. This book also felt like it had several instances of “ah, the hero is faced with an unsolvable problem, so she simply heroes harder!” which is something that particularly annoys me.
Regardless, I’m very curious about where book three will go. Fingers crossed Sanderson brings back Zane, whose internal monologue was a truly delightful vibe shift from the otherwise burdened-by-protagonism energy of every other character.