Reading this was a rollercoaster, and not necessarily in a good way.

I loved Little Thieves. It took me completely by surprise, so I was RABID with excitement for this one to finally come out.

The plot is as advertised: Vanja, for absolutely zero necessary reason, starts a cult. Did she awaken a dormant Low God? Did she create one for profit? Or is it, in fact, a secret third thing? Emeric is assigned to find out, and possibly arrest her if she's committed whatever the crime name of Option #2 is.

At first, I was having a great time. Vanja is as snotty and as enterprising as usual. Emeric is awkward, smart, and caring. They get sent on a quest where they have to accomplish certain tasks in a certain time frame. Predictably, it turns into a Legend of Zelda dynamic where every quest item involves completing a further seven other quest items.

Things that were good:
• Vanja's Ocean's Eleven thievery and plots. There were at least 2 really fun plots with thievery, dressing up in costumes, etc.

• The lore mysteries. The big lore mystery had me fascinated from the beginning. Along the way, there were several other smaller ones that I enjoyed being solved.

Unfortunately, there were a few other things that jumped out as not quite as good.

Vanja and Emeric's having or not having of sex becomes a plot point. I HATE this trope.

Regardless of the plot-importance of their having or not having sex, Vanja and Emeric spent SO MUCH OF THIS BOOK romancing, kissing, mooning, almost-but-not-quite having sex, anxiously discussing the fact that they are almost-but-not-quite having sex, or silently worrying about the fact that they are almost-but-not-quite having sex.

It was insufferable. Not even the self-aware jokes about it made by other characters could take the edge off how truly frustrating this was to experience as a reader. I get that it's probably realistic for youths of their age, background, and situations. But oh my WORD I do not want to have to see it. So irritating.

Vanja's issues were also extremely overpowering here. A big part of what I loved about Little Thieves was her issues, the way they affected the story, and how they were handled. And some of them here (the family-oriented ones) I was absolutely onboard to experience and go through with her. The ones where she repeatedly and with zero justification jumps to assuming the worst about Emeric over and over and over and over and over, though? When SHE is in fact the one who is usually treating HIM poorly? It became somewhat grating.

The combination of these two things killed me for the first two thirds of the book. Emeric was doing most of the research into the lore mystery, which I WAS actually interested in, offscreen, leaving me to wallow in Vanja's perspective of them wasting their (extremely limited!!!) time getting handsy/not getting handsy/thinking about getting handsy.

The finale almost saved the whole thing for me, though. I ADORED seeing Vanja get to meet her family members. The whole dynamic created between them as individuals and then all together at the farm was great. I could have done with even more of that, exploring the complicated associations they all had with their mother, honestly. Ragne was there!! Finally! Death and Fortune were back! And then when they finally go to confront the Scarlet Maiden, it was full of as many heart-stopping risks, sudden lore revelations, and daring choices as I could hope for. The whole thing was exciting and satisfying, and I was willing to forgive and forget.

But then, the WAY IT ENDED???

Yes, it's the middle book of a trilogy. No, that's not an excuse.

I feel like we just reset all the (painful, excruciating, terrible, unpleasant, way-too-long) emotional work we did throughout this book to get Vanja and Emeric to the place they were at. Now it seems like book three will begin ALL OVER AGAIN. From scratch. And have to rework the whole thing. There are only so many times I can sit through them stumbling through their interpersonal incompetence, and I frankly think once was plenty.

This was fantastic. It also was incredibly hard to read at times (and I want to give Vanja a hug so badly, but I also don't think she'd appreciate a hug from a stranger and that's very valid of her). Simply incredible, and I can't wait for the third book, even as I'm incredibly nervous about it following that ending.

Oh man. What a mess.

I fell in LOVE with Little Thieves. It was one of my absolute favorite reads of the year, though when I finished it and saw there was a sequel, I didn’t understand why one would be necessary. And boy did this book prove my fear right.

I won’t go into any major plot points but this was just all over the place. I didn’t enjoy the plot of this AT ALL, it was too confusing and there was so much happening yet I was bored. The lack of Ragne was CRIMINAL. All of the great group dynamics of LT was taken away, and this book was all Vanja and Emeric. Don’t get me wrong, I love them and their relationship was the highlight of this book. But to end it like THAT, with one of the worst tropes known to man?? Oh my god, I want to scream.

This just absolutely missed the mark for me and I’m so disappointed. Honestly not sure if I’m even going to be picking up the next book. Ugh.