I was hoping to read more about Verity and Dominic and instead suddenly I am in a zoo watching basilisks sleep with Alex. After a transition period I mostly enjoyed the new characters. Also we've moved from NYC to Columbus and even though both locations are never described in much detail ... still NYC feels more exciting. And: not a lot of new and interesting cryptids like in book 1 mostly same old.

Alex comes across a little too nerdy - even though with him carrying all those weapons he probably isn't supposed to be. Verity is definitely the more interesting character. And while Sarah - who I really liked in book one - makes an appearance she's still suffering consequences so ... not much there either.

Dominic makes for an interesting character with some inner conflict, and Shelby ... once it is clear who she is not so much except in how serious she takes the relationship compared with Alex. I don't like Shelby much for some reason. The antagonist also seems kind of random and elusive throughout most of the book. It takes until the very end that they have some idea who they are up against. And the reasoning behind it is not fore-shadowed at all it seems to me.

However the final few scenes were an extremely well written text-book culmination of the plot upping the ante until there was no more up and then resolving into the end. I'd really like pick it apart sentence by sentence for analysis.