Yay for Griffin! I have been waiting for this sequel since I finished reading Griffin Rising. My heart broke for Griffin as I watched him struggle to be a "real boy". And I loved how he kept trying to protect those around him, even without his powers. I also enjoyed some of the new characters that were introduced. Yes, only some not all. One in particular I just down right didn't like and wanted to flick off the page. His name is Sergei, and he is Basil's new Tiro. I didn't dislike him because he was poorly written, I just disliked him because he was a jerk. He reminded me a lot of Nicopolis from the first book. Although maybe not as evil, but definitely with the potential to be. Even when I tried to see it from his point of view I still didn't like him. He thinks he is better than everyone, yet even when he finds out the secret that Griffin has been hiding, instead of doing the right thing. (The right thing being telling Basil) He uses his knowledge to manipulate and hurt Griffin. Not very angelic.
Again, as with the first book, I loved how the author worked the journal entries into the story. While I understand the entries are from the three main characters, Basil, Katie and Griffin, sometimes it made me want to take a peek into some of the lesser characters heads as well. Even the ones I disliked. For example, I would love to know if a huge part of Sergei's animosity towards Griffin was because he had been basically dumped by his mentor in the middle of his training, or was he just a jerk because he could be? I personally think the latter, but it would have been interesting to find out. Since near the end of the story he does seem to step down off his pedestal a bit. At least long enough to give Griffin some credit were credit is do. (sorry trying very hard not to spoil anything!)

If you liked book one, Griffin Rising, you will definitely like book two. While not everyone got what I think they deserved. I personally think Nicopolis got off easy. (sorry had to spoil a little) But the ending is sound and it's a nice happy ending, which I think Griffin definitely deserved after the beating he took in book one.

This isn't the last of the Griffin series. There was an excerpt from the third book, Griffin's Storm, at the end of this one. Definitely a great teaser and I can't wait to read that one now. But the ending wasn't a cliffie, which is definitely a breath of fresh air, since most of the books I've read recently seem to want to end on one. The author did a great enough job getting me attached to the characters in both the first and second book, that I didn't need a cliffie to look forward to seeing where Griffin is going. (That says a lot.)

This book is actually scheduled for release in April. So I really enjoyed getting a chance to read it sooner. But it also means that if you haven't gotten a chance to read book one you have a solid month and a half to do so.