Despite being way too short, Charbonneau recognized the strengths of the first novel and continued them into the sequel: lots of fun riddle challenges with an overlay of political intrigue. As with the first, you really need to not be thinking too hard about all of this, and even more than the first the main character Cia tends to be a bit Mary Sue. 
 Let me be frank: this is silly, escapist, dystopic fun which isn't a common combination to find. Well worth the $10 I spent at Amazon.