I really, really love this series so much. I think it's a shame that I'm not eloquent enough to really display the depth of my how much I love this series, but I will try my best.
Fern is so much better in terms of character in this book. She has grown so much from that whiny, brooding girl in Midnight Twins and I really liked her relationship with Ollie. They have really developed from from hating one another, to learning to work with each other and being one another's support. Their relationship was so wholesome against how dark the story was this time.
Apart from this, I just want to add that my heart ached from reading about how stressed Fern was throughout this book. Everyone is depending on her to find a way to defeat Sebastien Medraut, who is so much more powerful than Fern, or even Fern + Ollie combined. He keeps besting Fern and the Knights of Tintagel cannot get a upper hand at all, much less try to equalise the playing field. Fern knows this, but she still has to try to project a strong front to boost the morale of the Knights, even when there are so many people actively antagonising her. And this was also where Fern's maturity was a sharp contrast to her character back in book one. The character development is really 👌🏻👌🏻.
And you know, the plot of this book was really, really, exciting. We jump straight back into Annwn and discover the aftereffects of the fight with Medraut: Annwn is slowly dying; it is no longer as magical as when it was introduced back in book one, which is a huge tragedy. I thought the author did a pretty good job of describing how lifeless Annwn was getting each day and how the Knights of Tintagel were really struggling to preserve it.
Another thing I really liked about the entire book was how we got to explore Annwn beyond London and visit other Knights in other parts of the country. This also means new characters, which also brings me to my next point, which is that Holly Race really does not hesitate to kill off characters. And she really knows how to kill the right characters who have grown on the reader. I swear, the body count in this book was wayyy more than book one and the death of the characters HURT.
I also really liked that this second book didn't feel like a filler book at all. It's basically Fern,Ollie and the Knights of Tintagel trying to find ways to stop Medraut, but what happens if they just aren't strong enough? What happens if the characters cannot find a way to stop the villain? I also really liked the ending, because at this point, Fern is completely screwed and I really don't know how is she going to come back from whatever has happened to her. But this also makes me very excited for the next book.