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I was actually a little apprehensive to read this (particularly since I borrowed the Polish translation from the library) for how dated it would possibly feel.

The first volume definitely felt like a book that can only be fully appreciated by a teen, or someone well in touch with their inner teen. It was so angsty and emo, each feeling of the protagonist turned up to twenty, little filter. I mostly expected more of the same - but this volume is, as far as I can tell, having read volume 1 a couple of years ago, quite different. Vanyel is older and more world-weary. The book is divided into two more or less distinct parts.

Part one is Vanyel travelling back home and experiencing a lot of classic "I am queer and my family is so straight it hurts and they're all more or less homophobic" moments - mom that tries to set Vanyel up with girls, girls that throw themselves at Vanyel to "cure" him, father that suspects Vanyel of being into young boys, family priest who hates him - all that jazz. There's some emotional resonance there, some cringe-worthy moments and some well-rendered ones, but overall, I thought it a bit of a snoozefest.

And then there's part two, for which part one sets the stage and builds foreshadowing, which is suddenly a murder mystery wrapped in a family scandal hidden inside a plot to damage a whole swath of more than one country. I don't want to spoil too much, but while the pacing is still a little off, the mystery and solution to the events is engrossing and fun - and the ending of the book, which sets up the trilogy's concluding volume, was enough to make me go locate the ebook.

(In other news, for those who are interested in such things, Vanyel is written quite consistently as demisexual.)