A review by nicolemhill
The Name of All Things by Jenn Lyons

I'm going to hold off on a star rating while I sit with my thoughts for a bit. I loved THE RUIN OF KINGS: its world, its characters and its unusual storytelling device. The sequel expands the world a bit, which is nice and interesting. It adds new characters, most of whom I liked, but it also largely omits several characters key to the first novel. That's because this second book doesn't so much advance the plot as it looks back at a separate set of events that happened alongside those of the first novel. To me, this both did and didn't work. While it helped explain parts of the story and illuminate new mysteries, the framing of Janel and Brother Qown -- two relative strangers to us -- recounting their story to Kihrin was a bit of a slog at times, as if you were waiting for the novel to truly start. That said, the writing remains engaging and the world absorbing, so I look forward to seeing how the story progresses.