Head and shoulders above the first novella, which wasn't even that bad, this story shows real growth with what the author is trying to do with this world and the characters in it. Genuinely heartwarming and interesting, the ending surprised me more than the ending of the first book, even though that was arguably a twist and this one wasn't. The main character's development over the story, a development they're clearly not very aware of, came as a huge and very comforting, engaginge shock to me.