I had to read this book after the first volume in the trilogy (which I had to read after watching the pilot of the Apple TV series), but at over five hundred pages and introducing a bunch of characters and timelines it was a bit of a slog getting through it. Still entertaining and fills in much of the backstory that was purely speculation in the first book (probably from the author, too, as this all started with just a self-published short story that served as the first few chapters), but also feels kind of like a homework assignment completed. I'm ready for the final book, though!