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This is a paranormal romance with an interesting premise: there are preternatural creatures that feed off of talented artists, and there's a secret society of people who try to stop them.

The execution of the premise is ... almost there? I feel like this could be really good, with one more run through the draft-and-rewrite cycle. It just feels a little bit stilted, a bit more formulaic than she probably meant it to come off.

It's still an entertaining read, and for $0 on the Kindle store, I regret nothing. It made my lunch breaks at work better for several weeks.

I put this book down part-way through reading it, because it seemed that what the author had probably intended to be subtle foreshadowing details were really obviously Chekhov's guns. It annoyed me when said guns were deployed well before Act Five.

I'm glad I eventually picked it up again, because the second half of the book contains some solid adventuring, a few good quests, and some decent political maneuvering and intrigue. As with the first book, the writing is incredibly lush and evocative. And anyway, maybe the reader is meant to figure things out before the supposedly clever Phèdre does, and my annoyance was misplaced? It's always hard to judge.

Anyway, although I was less impressed with this second book in the series than the first, I still plan to read book three. There is at least one plot I remain deeply invested in.

My sleep schedule is DESTROYED because I couldn't put this book down once I started. I regret nothing, though; it's a solid addition to an already fantastic (Hugo-nominated!) series. Like so many other books in the series, this one is funny and heart-breaking and incredibly full of danger for our heroine and her friends. This installment continues to prove that McGuire follows through with promises to her readers, as well as consequences for her characters' decisions.

Seanan McGuire doesn't do a lot of standalone books, and to be honest, I don't read many, preferring series. I'm happy that we both made this exception. This book is really well-crafted, and the audiobook is well-performed.

It's also seasonally appropriate, if you're looking for something to read during the end of October.

I haven't read this yet (it's on hold for me at the library), but it's been pointed out to me that the research methodology was, to put it nicely, flawed. "Exploitative" might be more accurate. So it's one to be careful with.