A Darker Shade of Magic was one of my favorite reads of 2021, so much so that I immediately went and bought the next two books in the trilogy—and then promptly forgot about them. After refreshing my memory with an online synopsis of the first book, I got around to reading the second one over the past week or so. Unfortunately, I did not love it nearly as much as its predecessor. It’s very obviously a bridge book between the setup of the first and what I imagine will be a good denouement in the third. This book though, largely felt bloated and unnecessary, and dare I say, a bit of a slog. Side note: I am glad I bought these before the covers designs changed, as I like this artwork so much more than the new ones.