I went into this one hoping for a little more action/excitement. I was more forgiving of the lack of that element in the first book because it's a lot of setup on the world and plot in general but I really needed to see that progression in the sequel, and through the first two thirds of this book I did not. The Morning Flower was actually set up quite the same as the first book in terms of very little progression until the end. Again with this one, the plot and world are interesting but I can't help but to be left feeling like a lot of the search for answers and rather mundane details could be condensed greatly in the first 2/3 of this story. It drags. It made it hard for me to fully get into and that's not what I want in a sequel. It's a lot to wade through to get to the excitement, just to end on another cliffhanger.

Even other sub-elements like the romance are basically non-starters. When done well a 'will they or won't they' can be fun and torturously exciting. Ulla and Pan or even the hinted at spark of attraction with Jem-Kruck just never had that integral draw. The desire to see either happen at all never fully formed for me. The characters were so apprehensive and not fully into it that how in the world could I as a reader be? Surprisingly I think a lot of this book was meant to be a slow progression to more between Ulla and Pan but their lack of passion and outward interest definitely fed into mine and I just didn't end up caring one way or another.

I was really hoping book one was an exception and not the rule and unfortunately that proved otherwise for me here. While I would like to see what happens next in the story, it's just not enough that I am content waiting to reach the end of another novel to get a little further.

I received an arc of this book from Wednesday Books via Netgalley and this is my honest review.