The first book in this duology ends in a major cliffhanger, where it appears that Elspeth is dead – taken over by the Nightmare. In this story, we quickly find out that she is not gone, and we also learn far more about the Nightmare, who is actually the Shepherd King.
Rayvn Yew and his cousin Elm, younger son of the Rowan king, now find themselves in a very difficult position – they’ve been working to complete the deck of Providence cards and bring down Elm’s father. And with all that has happened in the last book, and continues to happen in this book, it’s not clear they’ll succeed, and of course, Ravyn desperately wants to save Elspeth as well.
I really liked how everything came to a head – this was such a smart story, and the whole tale of the Shepherd King ended up being so satisfying. And honestly, I really appreciate that the author kept it to two books.