Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review. 
 I am going to look at The Mime Order through the lens of my brief goodreads review of The Bone Season. 
 This is probably actually closer to a 2 1/2 for me, and I'll probably check out the next installment. 
 Well here we are. 
 However, this one took me a while to get through despite how fast of a read it is when you get going. I never felt really immersed in the world, and didn't really feel all the stakes. 
 The Mime Order felt like it took forever to get through despite the fact it's a fairly standard length at 528 pages. Nothing crazy. However, the prose weighs these narratives down so much. It just feels heavy and plodding. It takes any urgency out of what is going on. 
 An example--Keep in mind this may change by publication, and this is the worst sentence I found. Most of the sentences are perfectly serviceable. But: 
 It was into one of these that I walked, heading for the single doss-house it housed. 
 The idea of who we're fighting or why is not something I feel extremely invested in at this point 
 I felt like Shannon did a much better job at establishing the world this go round even if some things still feel murky. Unfortunately, she didn't necessarily make it exciting for me. I need to feel the vibrancy and the sinister nature of this world, and it's just not happening. A lot of this can be blamed again on the heavy narrative. The why we're fighting still really hasn't been shown. Additionally, things that are supposed to be twists were not that surprising, when the world wasn't still somewhat muddled that is. 
 For the length of the book, I don't really have an ending sensation of all that much happening. 
 There was more forward momentum in this installment, even if the amount of action could have been encapsulated in a just as, if not more, compelling way in a shorter page count. 
 Neither did I feel like I really had a handle on Paige before going on this adventure with her. 
 I know Paige better. I'm kind of "meh" about her most of the time, because she's not really giving me anything interesting to work with. She has to save the world or whatever, but we don't really see how bad it is right now for the average person. She's kind of going through the motions of a protagonist somewhat. But she's tough enough. 
 I lost all concept of passage of time within the novel; the end listed much longer than I thought the events had set up. 
 The passage of time was handled much smoother this go around. If I'm not sure how much calendar time has passed, there are concrete events referred to throughout that I can use as measuring tools. 
 Maybe the publisher's hype played into what I was expecting from this novel, but for something that had so much promotion power behind it, I was expecting a very specific and clear world. The potential is there, and that potential will carry me over to the next book. 
 The hype for this installment has seemed less, although there is another month until publication. But I feel like I had the Bone Season on my radar for ever. The potential got me here. Last I heard this was a 7 book deal. If that is still the case, this narrative is being drug out unnecessarily and it is not doing the overall story any favors. I appreciate an attempt at a longer series, but would much rather read a more concentrated novel that moves well. I just want to feel some more forward motion in these books. Even with events progressing somewhat I feel stalled. 
 I wanted to see how this series would build on itself, and now I know. Again, I'm leaving a little disappointed. Although I do feel like this was better than the first. 
 If you've been looking forward to finding out what happens to Paige and the gang (And Warden. You know you wanna know about Warden, 'cause while the Stockholm Syndrome is legit and creepy, he might be the most intriguing character in the book.) next, pick up The Mime Order on Jan. 27th.