SO much better than the first book! Alona is a real person now! (in terms of personality that is as she's still dead). I actually liked Alona because we got to see her develop and make mistakes (yeah, albeit some BIG mistakes) and see her learn from it and regret. Will was pretty much the same if not more of a pushover than he was in the last book. 
 The narrative and POVs were slightly less childish than the first one. There was more of a plot, though it was very predictable. Not a bad book overall.