I sort of struggled with this book. I was vastly excited when the author posted the eye watering cover for the long awaited sequel and didn't wait a week after its release to snag a copy.

Now, if you haven't read Sufficiently Advanced Magic, you should brush that up before reading this one or else, you will feel really lost. That said, most of this book focuses on the aftermath of Corin's second visit to the spire with several new challenges he has to face, primarily, to find a way to heal his sister that ended up with severe injuries that inhibit her magic (she can no longer speak which adds more tension to the story), and the mysteries behind the new magic on Corin's arm that nobody seems to know what it does.

After realizing he's started to pack up a long list of enemies, Corin and Sera have moved into the house of their new ally Derek and have formed an alliance with the enigmatic but friendly foreign swordsmater Keras. Marissa and Patrick continue to play a consistent role as supporting characters during the story as the small group of magic apprentices have to finish their first year at Lorian Heights Academy.

There's a lot of good subplots in the novel, primarily Sera's ordeal and the tiny tidbits the story hints about Keras and his unique magic that can make even a visage tremble in fear. We also get to enjoy learning more about the different attunements of this little world.

The bad thing is that... the sequel repeats one of the main pitfalls of the first book which is that it not only has an insufferably slow middle, it enhances the slow part of the story on steroids and the book doesn't really begin until the 60% point. Yes, there's some good chapters with character backgrounds and world building, but 70% of the first half of the novel is Corin taking time off in his bedroom, reading an interesting ability in a book such as jumping real high or blasting mana from his hand without the need of a dueling cane that explodes in contact with many types of augmenting mana. Learning a new side ability which proves to the reader that even a supportive role in duels as an Enchanter is more flexible and thus, interesting as the first book implies; but when your book spends around 30% of the book with just slight variants of the exact same thing without really advancing the plot, then you have trouble.

Corin also has a rather uhh.. flat personality. One scene he's studious, another he shruggs his shoulders that he is going to get an average grade in a course, he feels really uncomfortable when people touch him, but he opens up to Cecily who is a person he's had a troubled past where it seems like their long awaited reencounter is all stars & butterflies. Very inconsistent. And no, his character doesn't develop much at all during the book. I personally didn't mind the parts of the story that hint he's sort of bi curious.

What I did find to be annoying is Corin's utterly condescending tone when he almost mocks Keras regarding Sheridan's self-professed asexuality. Apparently, people that worship the Wydd visage are sort of quirky and either think they are both young & old or both male & female but not physically like Wydd is, just in their minds. I found that chapter to be both too preachy for my taste and sort of out of touch with the rest of the society of the book where trains are still a novelty and it's socially okay for parents to beat the crap out of their children even in other people's homes if they have enough political power.

Worse, if you plan on choosing to add a self professed asexual character, maybe using a plural pronoun would confuse a lot of readers. They/them might be grammatically correct, but it still confuses you. I think the writer could have been better off inventing a gender neutral pronoun given the book already has other unique words such as resh. I tried to settle my mind into a train of thought that Sheridan had dual personalities to make reading the plural pronoun easier. If having an asexual character was supposed to be a super groundbreaking plot ploy, it isn't that novel to me. CLAMP's famous manga that was written in the early 1990's "X" features a villain named Naraku that was a bioengineered angel of death that was created in a secret lab. Oddly enough, I actually liked Sheridan's character a lot.

The world has a lot of promise, and while this is Corin's story, I would have enjoyed the book more if it had been told through Sera's POV. Andrew seems to write far more interesting and complete female characters and Sera not only kicks butt, she shows her moments of doubt during the book when she realizes she might have been left with permanent injuries for the rest of her life. Patrick is just... sort of there and while he seems like a nice person and his sorcery is starting to show promise, he doesn't seem to work as a particularly good retainer. Corin seems to save him everytime.

I'm not sure if I'll read the third novel whenever it comes out. I might give it a chance if the reviews state the sequels don't have endless slow chapters or perhaps focus a bit more on other characters. Still, I can see why a lot of people oggle over this series and if you don't mind novels that take seemingly forever to start off and characters that somehow beat overpowered enemies without having any deaths, you'll probably be hungry for the third book. ( )

I’m tired of the complicated magical system. I may come back later. ( )

[b:On the Shoulders of Titans|40126485|On the Shoulders of Titans (Arcane Ascension, #2)|Andrew Rowe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1526400308l/40126485._SY75_.jpg|59889879] is everything [b:Sufficiently Advanced Magic |34403860|Sufficiently Advanced Magic (Arcane Ascension, #1)|Andrew Rowe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1488182235l/34403860._SY75_.jpg|55506810] was, only bigger and more so.

Crazy magical battles chock full of colorful spells, summoned beings, and magic items? Oh yeah.

The next thing I saw was Marissa, flying upward above the fire, then soaring downward with a gleaming fist. “Star descends from sky!” Then she punched the dragon in the face. The dragon staggered back at the impact of her fist. That was an image I would not soon forget.

A magic school with all sorts of students all mixed and thrown in together, along with teachers designed to make the students as powerful as can be... one way or another? Check.

At the academy, I learned all sorts of things about Enchanting. Like how to blow off my own hands by experimenting without asking the right questions first. No, I didn’t literally blow off my own hands. After that, Professor Vellum — who didn’t want to spend the money on buying me new hands — decided to teach me some things about enchanting in non-combustible ways.

Detailed magic systems with all sorts of twists and corners to discover along with the characters? Of course.

“Certainly, Arbiter. Your attunement is only granted to one who has successfully completed a diplomatic task for one of the visages. Typically, it involves assisting in a political matter between visages and human cultures. Arbiters have demonstrated that they can be trusted with delicate matters, and thus, they are often employed by visages for additional assignments.”

Magical beings on the scales of demigods that you have to fight? YES!

Cecily frowned. “Who could possibly be as dangerous as Mizuchi?” “He’s a child of the Tyrant in Gold,” I explained. “...Oh.” She blinked, then adjusted her glasses. “Wait, really?” I gave her a gesture of acknowledgement. “Wow. You have had a terrible few weeks.”

Wonderfully dry, snarky sense of humor? Yes please.

Vanniv flapped his tiny wings, turning toward Sera. “What is the meaning of this? Why are you gigantic?” He floated around. “Wait, why is everyone gigantic?... Oh.” He folded his arms. “You probably can’t tell, but I’m glaring at you very intensely right now.”

Gay, gender-fluid, and probably autistic, and otherwise non-'typical' characters taking central roles with a few small pointers in the right direction about handling such things, without taking over the plot? Neato!

I was just starting to figure out that sexual and romantic interests could be distinct...and then I’d blown up my love interest.

and

Second, if Sheridan was usually genderless, I’d have to try to remember to call them by neutral pronouns like “they” unless they asked me to use a gender. That was the polite thing to do.

If you liked the first book, you'll almost certainly like this one. If you didn't, in particular the feel of the battles and the magic system descriptions--why are you still reading this?

The biggest bummer was finding out that the next sequel isn't out... but there are two other series set in the same world with a pair of books out each! So I'll have to 'to read' those about now.

Spoiler:

People who work for Aayara tend to adopt names that start with ‘ess’. ‘Sterling’, ‘Silver’, that sort of thing. Ones who work for the Blackstone use gem names.”

So... Sera? ( )

A solid follow-up that wraps up a few story threads but leaves a lot more hanging. At this place it is clear that this series is going to take at least half a dozen books to wrap up, and probably a great deal more. ( )

OMG I just want to keep raving about this. Nothing else. Just rave. And go OMG.

Why? Because this was made for me. Never mind that it's YA. I just have SO MUCH FUN with it. :) Why? Because it is one of the very best LitRPGs out there.

Let me explain. LitRPG is taking the very best gaming elements of both pencil-and-paper RPG min-maxing and loophole hunting and also RPG video games and throws it on the page surrounded by a great story, great characters, and it unabashedly makes it reminiscent of the great RPGs of yore.

Oh, and it also GETS me. I LOVE enchanting items and leveling up and discovering the deepest properties of the fantasy world and finding ways to CLEVER yourself out of situations you're NEVER supposed to get out of. :) This particular duo of novels revels in it.

ENCHANTERS RULE! :)

It's also fantastic for action, battles, trials, quests, traps, traps, and more traps. Either by the school where he's learning his skills or by the magical towers with seemingly endless floors of deadly ... whatever. :) Of course, none of this would be half so good if we didn't have the best characters and the best reasons to do them. Fortunately, I feel his need to get MORE POWERFUL at all costs. :)

Nom nom nom nom. LEVEL UP TIME! :)

My only complaint? ... WHY DO I HAVE TO WAIT SO LONG FOR THE NEXT??? ( )