1.5 stars! 
 Okay, I'm thinking that I might be in the minority here but I seriously didn't think this book was necessary. I love the first one and I was excited when I heard there was going to be a sequel--now a trilogy. It was one of my highly anticipated reads. But good gracious, I literally forced myself to finish it. And I'm glad I did because other wise it would be a .5 lol 
 Now I won't try to convince you that this is a bad book because I think it just didn't work for me. I felt it followed the typical tropes (push away the love interest, special snowflake, love-triangles) that we see in YA and I thought it could have been better than that. An Ember sure as hell was so why???? Still I need to share a few thoughts to justify my rating. 
 This book was about saving Laia's brother, Elias helping her, and Helene becoming the Blood Shrike & showing her loyalty to the Empire & being a badass. I swear none of these shits can complete the mission. Helene's character (my favorite besides Elias) went from top to bottom (throughout the book) to top again (last scene). I thought Helene KNEW better. 
 I was annoyed with Laia throughout the. Entire. Book. I was annoyed with Elias too. I was still attached to him the most as I was in book one. But still, the brother has to know when to stop being so selfless. I'm upset with the ending. 
 Maybe I'll continue the last book but I'm not anticipating it.