This was all right. The first book had a nicer structure I think. A beginning and an end. It of course ended in a high-stakes fight for the fate of the world.

Then the next day we are back to school. Infodumps about magic that does not fit into the world's magic system. (I liked the magic system! I barely had time to learn it. It's just the second book. Do we already need to step beyond it?) Teenage banter and drama. Exams.

None of it is bad. It just feels like the author is thinking, "Oh, finally, I can just ramble on about anything. How nice it is not to be rushed. I had a lot of ideas that were squeezed out from the first book."

But there's lots of good parts. The exams are always exciting. There are awesome fights. Cool new items and abilities. We learn a lot about what's going on in the world. Progress on Corin's backstory. Bunch of cool new characters. I enjoyed it alright.