I mean, I continue to love magical creatures in historical New York.

I just… the first book was very hopeful, and this one feels pessimistic… to the point where I considered googling whether Wecker had divorced in the intervening years. Perhaps it’s the fear of writing a happy couple together; the conventional wisdom that the only conflict in a love story can be “will they or won’t they?”, and once you answer that the story can only be over.

I liked seeing Sophia Winston explore the Middle East. I liked seeing Chava and Ahmad face shadow versions of themselves. I just wish they had stayed together, and that the ending was less unhappy.