As he listened to them, Neil realized he was happy. It was such an unexpected and unfamiliar feeling he lost track of the conversation for a minute. 
 Nothing gets resolved in this book...literally nothing. If anything, more unresolved stuff is thrown in. There are hints of a relationship but it ends there. It is dark, violent and much, much more painful to read than it's predecessor. 
 And it's amazing. 
 Neil is still as compelling as in the last book and his (slow) transition from Paranoid Boy to Slightly Less Paranoid Boy Who Realises He Is Allowed To Make Friends is wonderful. (Neil being surprised when people are nice to him! Neil opening up! Neil realising he cares. I love my boy.) 
 The entire book feels like a countdown. Neil has accepted that he's going to die at the end of the season, so there's this undecurrent of hopelessness, but there are moments - Neil standing up to Riko, his conversations with his friends, glimpses of the team the Foxes could (and will!!) be - and these moments are what makes The Raven King so great.