Despite what felt like a slow start this book was pretty good for a second book. I always find second books tend to not be as great as the first, especially as they often have to do a lot of set up for the rest of the series. There was a lot of set up in this, but it has really, really, really done well to set the stage and the world for some majorly epic plot points and adventure in the next books. 
 I did find some of the plot points in this story predictable, much like in the first book, but it didn't do much to dampen the overall experience of the books. Definitely looking forward to continuing this series!