And now we get to see Elliott swing for the fences in the best kind of way, playing around in the spirit world she's developed and also further developing and wrapping the politics thread of this duology. It also gets to wrestle with that unique feeling you have of someone you care for getting ready to strike out on their own, and that blend of fear and pride you have as you watch them take their first steps out into the world, and also reemphasizes that one is allowed to have a life beyond someone who's long gone. Bittersweet, but a perfect ending for this duology.

A satisfyingly heartfelt conclusion to the duology, with room to expand if Elliot chooses to. Compared to The Witch Roads, The Nameless Land feels like a shorter read, though the page count is similar, because the pacing is faster and there’s so much payoff for the mysteries set up in book one.

I’ve seen people say they didn’t want to continue after Witch Roads because they saw spoilers that said their favorite character isn’t in this one. He is! He remains delightful, and his relationship with El continued to provide both of them with opportunities to grow past their worst traits. She teaches him gratitude and true responsibility; he teaches her that she can trust other people to care for her and for themselves.

It’s the relationships that really shine for me in this second installment. There remains a great deal of worldbuilding to unravel, but I didn’t get the same thrill of discovery that I did from book one, mostly because the titular Nameless Land is really fucking bleak. Watching the characters I already love find a way through that bleakness together was not just delightful but actually genuinely inspiring. Like a lot of people, I’ve been carrying some big, existential depression since 2020, and the ways El finds to carry her trauma and grief and rage alongside her joy and love and hope resonated deeply with me. I’m going to talk about this book in therapy.