I didn’t love the first book in this series, but many of its problems also may have came down to all the elements a first book must tackle. Given more familiarity with the characters in this second go-around, I was interested to see where the story would go from there!

I will say, I did like this one better than the first. For one thing, I think the pacing was more balanced here. This makes sense, as it didn’t have to do nearly has much heavy lifting with regards to introducing the basic structures of this society and magic system. That being the case, the story had more free rein to dive straight into the main plot and several intense action sequences. This same benefit extended to the characters. While I still don’t love multiple love interests, the longer I’ve spent with all three of these people, the more I came to care about their various travails.

However, I still found myself struggling with the swapping pronouns for one of the characters. Inclusivity is important, but there are practical realities of reading a story via the written word that does create barriers to how this sort of character is presented. As it stands, swapping pronouns often throughout the story left me struggling to piece together who was saying/doing what. And this markedly detracted from my ability to stay connected to the plot, as I had to constantly come out of the story to piece together sentences and scour previous bits for context clues. Like I said in my original review, I’m not sure what the solution is here, but I think in light of the very real limitations of the written word, simply sticking with “they” as a pronoun would have greatly improved the writing in this book.

I did enjoy the themes explored here. This society has very real boundaries placed on its people, and we see the struggles our characters go through. Beyond that, we have the exploration of themes regarding religion and magic, and the lengths people are pushed to in their devotion to their beliefs. Revolution stories are always a good time in fantasy!

That said, the book has an odd ending. I thought this was a duology when I picked this one up, but the end definitely leaves the door open for more, with several questions left unanswered. Ultimately, I think if you enjoyed the first book, this one will definitely hold up as a good sequel. Even for those who didn’t love the first book, this was definitely an improvement!

Rating 7: While it’s an improvement on the previous book, I still struggled with the readability at times, and the ending had me scratching me head a bit.

Link will go live on The Library Ladies on April 4

I liked Infinity Alchemist, but Chaos King left me feeling more drained than anything. It’s a strong sequel in terms of writing and worldbuilding, but the open ending and unresolved relationships made it feel unsatisfying. I think I would’ve preferred Infinity Alchemist as a standalone rather than ending on this note.

That said, the book does a great job continuing the story. Alchemist rights are in jeopardy, Ash is haunted by nightmares of black orbs and his mother’s screams, and there’s talk of revolution—it’s heavy, and the pacing keeps things moving. This one has more action than the first, which helps balance out some of the darker themes.

Kacen Callender writes beautifully, and the characters are just as compelling as before. But while I appreciated the story, it left me feeling more sad than satisfied. It’s a solid book, but not quite the sequel I was hoping for.

Personally not my thing as far as writing style, but if you can get through that, it actually ends quite beautifully.

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book to review.***

This book just ended up making me feel really sad. It's a bit of an open ending, but I wish it had tied up relationships more. I need more therapy after this book. Infinity Alchemist was one of my favorite reads last year, and I think I would've preferred it be a standalone then end this way.

I absolutely loved the Infinity Alchemist and the sequel was no exception. Alchemists rights are on the line, Ash is having nightmares about black orbs and his mother screaming, finding a way to speak with the dead, and a possible revolution of alchemists?!? This book was well paced, and I enjoyed hearing about these characters again! I felt this book was a bit more action packed than the last one and loved it. A great read for any fantasy lover!

This was a strong sequel to the Infinity Alchemist and enjoyed how it continued the story from that book. The overall feel worked with the world and characters that were built and enjoyed how good everything worked. Kacen Callender wrote this perfectly and had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed they feel of this. The characters were everything that I was looking for and enjoyed the concept for this. Can’t wait for more.