Big step down from #0.5, and a let-down from 1.0. Sort of seeing why the series never went anywhere because there have been two two books where the story has been "bad monster, people die. more people die. even more people die. look, people dying. die, people die. monster monster die people die....quick victory" 
 It's wearying, drudgery, and a shame because this world had such potential. What it's lacking in these volumes is growth and development. I know there's always a sense of "avoid special snowflakes" in urban fantasy writing but that is exactly what this series needs, a bildungsroman that actually bildungs during its telling of the roman. 
 In both books 1 and 2, our hero has been strategically removed from the mentor, giving him greater agency but no way to learn and expand his powers. He discovers spells? They're taken away or burned. He creates something unusual? No one remarks on it but one minor villain. 
 Each bit is more frustrating than the last because while the first (0.5) book was exciting, books 1 and 2 have been repetitive, frustrating, and full of carnage without hope. There's no overarching story to root for or invest in. 
 I'm going to push on to book 3 and see where it takes me. I like the author's written "voice" and may try some other titles but this series didn't pay off the way I'd hoped.