I found this rather less impelling than the first volume, but it's still a very good read. Harrow is revealed even more unpleasant than the first volume might have lead you to think. In fact, most of the characters, other than Gideon, are pretty awful. God is clearly evil, pressing unwanted cups of tea on everyone. Will there be cucumber sandwiches?

Update: having run out of books, I reread this one. Apparently, Muir holds that the narrating voice who second persons Harrow is Gideon. This seems very unlikely, as the voice is very different from that of the narrator of the first volume, and we later discover that Gideon, although she's in there somewhere, was only semi-aware of what was going on, and therefore unlikely to be able to give the fairly detailed report which we read here.

Muir offers Harrow redemption, and although she seizes it, slobbering pitifully over her cavalier's shoulder, this reader isn't buying it. I also don't buy Gideon's avowal of undying loyalty to the Ninth in general and Harrow in particular.

It now seems that the story is to balloon out into four volumes. This is unlikely to be warranted.