Isoka's arc in this book is less interesting than it was in the first one. Spoiler The first book was really about her growth from isolated self-interested loner into a leader. This book spends a lot more time working around the edges of that growth. And the whole "collect all the keys to unlock the next level" plot wasn't super interesting. Really, I got the big final fight vs the zombie t-rex and was just like, how cool would this fight be if [a:Tamsyn Muir|6876324|Tamsyn Muir|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1543423040p2/6876324.jpg] wrote it (not that Wexler's action sequences are bad. Just that Muir is really the queen of writing video game boss fights as prose). But the entire second plotline with Tori more than made up for it. Spoiler Tori was never the person Isoka thought she was, but her getting an entire French Revolution storyline (shades of Wexler's longer fantasy series) including a Bastille storming and then a really morally questionable Well of Power to wrestle with, really pushed her way outside her first-book framing as motivation on a pedestal. The final juxtaposition of her blowing up the entire 16th Ward + docks with Isoka being like, "going to go home and get noodles in the 16th", really well done. Super excited to dive into the final book.
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