The second book follows Teremy Itsubishi's side of the story from the first book. I don't judge the story based on how bad the character names are.
Good things about the book: There is more variety in characterisation, and characters often have their own voices. The protagonist is a lot more intelligent with his deductions, and actually has opinions. There is subtle character development for him, an improvement over Jeremy. There is a lot more worldbuilding information to help readers understand the world of Geminate City, shown instead of narrated in the style of the big infodumps that ruined the pacing of the first book.
Bad things about the book: Some characters are still one-dimensional, especially Dan Dynamo who seems to be just a less flamboyant and more evil version of Edward Loveless from the first book. The book still tries to force us to hate on antagonists solely because they are antagonists. The story also makes the unfortunate implication that people in general are inherently stupid. Characters also start acting like they're in an anime past the 270th page. While Teremy is not as petulant as Jeremy, side characters are more memorable and easier to sympathise with.
It doesn't end there. The extra worldbuilding information, which should serve to enrich the world, also unfortunately exposes plenty of plotholes which shouldn't have been there in the first place.
The fighting scenes are still clunky and drawn-out instead of exciting. The bland writing has shown no improvement in this regard, only focused on spitting out action as fast as possible. Effects to the environment are skimmed over as if they aren't significant to the fight at all, and only affect the fighters when the author feels necessary. This is a shame considering the fighting scenes are clearly meant to play a major part in the book.
Despite the improvements, the book is no different from its predecessor apart from the fact that 484 pages of bland writing is far too long for any avid reader to put up with. It says a lot about the book when the reader keeps checking the pages to see how much they've got left to read out of boredom.
I will not be buying the third book and I wouldn't recommend buying any of them either.
Side: Justice review
The second book follows Teremy Itsubishi's side of the story from the first book. I don't judge the story based on how bad the character names are.
Good things about the book: There is more variety in characterisation, and characters often have their own voices. The protagonist is a lot more intelligent with his deductions, and actually has opinions. There is subtle character development for him, an improvement over Jeremy. There is a lot more worldbuilding information to help readers understand the world of Geminate City, shown instead of narrated in the style of the big infodumps that ruined the pacing of the first book.
Bad things about the book: Some characters are still one-dimensional, especially Dan Dynamo who seems to be just a less flamboyant and more evil version of Edward Loveless from the first book. The book still tries to force us to hate on antagonists solely because they are antagonists. The story also makes the unfortunate implication that people in general are inherently stupid. Characters also start acting like they're in an anime past the 270th page. While Teremy is not as petulant as Jeremy, side characters are more memorable and easier to sympathise with.
It doesn't end there. The extra worldbuilding information, which should serve to enrich the world, also unfortunately exposes plenty of plotholes which shouldn't have been there in the first place.
The fighting scenes are still clunky and drawn-out instead of exciting. The bland writing has shown no improvement in this regard, only focused on spitting out action as fast as possible. Effects to the environment are skimmed over as if they aren't significant to the fight at all, and only affect the fighters when the author feels necessary. This is a shame considering the fighting scenes are clearly meant to play a major part in the book.
Despite the improvements, the book is no different from its predecessor apart from the fact that 484 pages of bland writing is far too long for any avid reader to put up with. It says a lot about the book when the reader keeps checking the pages to see how much they've got left to read out of boredom.
I will not be buying the third book and I wouldn't recommend buying any of them either.