Much better than the first one...
935975
Much, much better than his first book "The Chicago Way", in every way, I thought.  Femme Fatales, corrupt and greedy politicians, frameups, everyone has a secret...great modern hardboiled setting and characters!

The novel has a lot of info about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and searching for a book about the fire seems to be causing a lot of murders.  Kelly is put on the case by the corrupt as dog dirt mayor and his minions, and has to decide if the possibility that Chicago's grand old families are responsible for the fire could be a reason for murder in the 20th century. All the while juggling the case of an ex-girlfriend and her daughter who are getting tuned up by a scumbag husband (who is also one of the politicians figuring into the murder mystery).

I'm a big fan of mysteries where the lone PI is going against the corrupt (and murderous) political machine motivated by greed, so this hit the spot.  I thought it was a much better plot and had better characters than the first novel, looking forward to the next!
540021
Sequel to Enchantment....MUCH BETTER! I think I liked it more because I didn't have to deal with the `parent's as much. This book focused more on Channie and Josh and their relationship, and well, how to make it one step at a time. It has been by far an easy relationship; they've been through a LOT! The fact that Josh is actually `Magically Gifted' and quite powerful, makes it a bit difficult for Channie to deal with the fact that she has lost her `magic' and is now a regular human. I'm glad they have been able to beat the `curse' little by little and one step at a time, but it is not over yet. Channie's mom has gone off the deep end with her infatuation with `the Book of the Dead' and does not care whom she hurts in the process to getting it all for herself and have its powers. She has made Channnie take a very serious deal with her and I will have to await the 3rd book to see how it all gets resolved! =)
4941550
Much better than the first book in the series, more cohesive and less crowded story-wise.  The characters are starting to grow on me and I am starting to care about them.  The writing is a little stilted with abrupt stops sometimes, but it is a better read.  On to #3.
3472042
"28 WEEKS LATER" is not only an excellent follow up to the original but speaking for myself, in many ways (especially the end) it's even better than part one. It has a couple of plot holes but nowhere near enough to harm the final outcome. Although I love everything else about part one I never was a big fan of the dull ending...but I really think the way "28 weeks" begins helps to make the dull ending of the original much easier to swallow. All & all I really enjoyed this one and can't wait for another sequel or prequel...wich ever they decide to do. There is potential for either or.
4421439
I'd like to start out by saying "Rises the Night" is a MUCH better book than the first one in this series "The Rest Falls Away" which I would have rated a 2.75 to 3 if I had written a review. The pacing is steady and character development is much improved from the first book.

Victoria, the female Venator (vampire slayer) is ending the official mourning of her deceased husband, Phillip. Desiring to avenge his death, she searches but finds very few vampires to slay. She discovers that Lilith (Vampire Queen) has fled London and is in hiding.  Max (Venator), who helped her fight in the previous book, has been out of contact and missing for almost a year.  Returning characters include her Aunt Eustacia, the only other living female Venator and Sebastian (love interest). Nedas, the vampire son of Lilith, has found an ancient Obelisk that once activated, will give him all encompassing power and help to destroy the Venators.

Even though the scenes in this book are much more believable than the first, there are still gaps in logic and blatant implausibilities. For example, that one of the leaders of the Tutela (protectors of vampires) would allow a complete stranger into the inner sanctum of their organization, especially so close to the completion of the Obelisk activation. These flaws are not plot-killers and though, especially because the characters of Max and Sebastian are well developed and the story is interesting. Victoria still is a little 2-dimensional for me, but the action and scene development is very good. We learn what has happened to Max and really important info about Sebastian's background. We also find out what the prophecy means and the difficult choices that have to be made.

The last scene between Nedas and Victoria is conveniently implausible, especially given how quickly vampires can move, at least in all the previous scenes except this one. LOL Victoria really should have been dead before she could do anything in her weakened state. Even with the flaws, after I got through the first quarter of the book, I found it quite readable and enjoyed it. I have to say, the excerpt from the next book in the series, "The Bleeding Dusk", has whetted my appetite for more of Max, Sebastian and Victoria (in that order). I give this book a 3.75 stars.
4915434
I'm a bit confused by some of the hate for this book, since I thought it was much improved from the previous book. While there are some problems, most notably Ms. Lackey's current practice of inserting pages of previous books into the current book, on the whole it moved the story along quite nicely.
I admit that I, like others, originally thought this would be a trilogy, although "Chronicles" does imply a longer series.  I've adjusted my thinking in that regard, which helped my enjoyment of the book tremendously.  In this installment, we learn Mags' real name and more about his origin, though not all.  Hints are given about Mags' true status--he's apparently important enough to send people looking for him, and for the head of state in his parents' country of origin to take a personal interest.  We also learn more about Karse, specifically how it got the way it was before Solaris and why Vkandis didn't step in sooner--and why Valdemar didn't just go in and perform regime change.  And Ms. Lackey introduces a new Suncat, which is enough for me--love the Suncats.  Secondary characters are moved along as well--the biggest development being between Bear and Lena.
To the problems in the book, besides the previously mention insertions (Ms. Lackey, if you're writing so many books you have to resort to this device, you have this avid fan's permission to slow down.).  I'm still not quite sure of how old Mags is and how long he's been at the Collegium.  Some passages seem to imply that it's been a couple of years, some that this it's been less than a year.  Mags at the start of the first book seemed to be about 11 or 12, in this book he seems to be 15 or 16.  Yes, the mine could have slowed his emotional and physical growth, but Lena seems quite young in the first book as well.  Of course I can assume that was her shyness, and I can just establish in my own mind that Mags was 14 but stunted due to conditions at the mine and that it has been about two and a half years since the first book.  But that's work that should be done by the author, not the reader.  And of course, Ms. Lackey puts in details about everyday Valdemar life, which I enjoy but others may not.
All in all, though, I thought this was a good continuation of the story, and I'm looking forward to the next book.
1194400
Ok.  It is much much better than book 1, with the whole annoying male quad BS.  I only wanted to shoot Braxton a few times instead of torturing him through the first book.  Like the first book I really like the storyline and Jessa is actually opening her eyes to Braxton's dominance BS, yay!
1946899
Better than the first one. A bit less on the sex side and more on the story side. Nothing really original but a good read.
3437478
Okay, so if you liked the first one, you will like this one, too. (And if you didn't like the first one, you won't be reading this one, so that's fine ;-).)

This one takes us to some unexpected places all around the globe, spans fifteen years, and adds even more characters to an already-extensive cast. But it retains the same relentless pace, lots of action, plus the heart and hope that make the first book worth reading.

I found it to be a page-turner and I am really curious to see where Kristopher is going to take us for book 3.
2402317
Kindle unlimited purchase

This is book 2... And so much better than the first... Beth and Daniil are the main characters still, but the supporting characters have a big role in the book... Which made the book more enjoyable... This does have a cliffhanger but as book 3 is already out that should not be a problem...would recommend this book to 18 and over..
1627250
I went to see the first one and was terribly disappointed.  So I wasn't expecting anything when the second came out.  I really enjoyed the second one alot more.  It didn't have as much raunchy sex humor as the first one did.  Much much much better.  Not as stupid a story line.
2333229
I enjoyed this book, probably even more than the first. I was also grateful that it didn't end with a cliffhanger like the last one. Jarek is a compelling character. I would say that he's a little too much the hero, a little too selfless, but at least the author recognizes this and has the other players get frustrated when Jarek says, "Es ist meine Schuld." I'm hoping Jarek will finally seal the deal with a female character in Book 3. Otherwise, there was plenty of action and lots of accurate commentary on human nature, even in the City of the Memos.
72849
After not really loving Illuminae, I went into this with relatively low expectations. Maybe that's why I liked this one so much more. Or maybe this one was really just that much better.
I liked Hanna and Nik a million times more than Kady and Ezra. They were more entertaining, more unique, and just better characters in general. All of the characters in Gemina were more dimensional than in Illuminae, even if they still were a little too similar for my taste.
The plot in this one was pretty similar to the plot in Illuminae, and none of the twists surprised me (not that they did in Illuminae.... you know what? I'm just going to stop talking about Illuminae now.), but I still found them enjoyable. Even though the twist in this one was more "out-there", I found it much more believable and enjoyable (than Illuminae... Ugh why am I still talking about this? I'm hopeless).
I loved that in this second installment in the series, I could actually tell the difference between who the characters were, and it didn't sound like they were all 12 year olds. It was great.
I would definitely recommend reading this one if you've read the first one (even if you didn't necessarily like the first one... like me) because this was So. Much. Better. Like 10000% better. Also, if you like sci-fi, you should give this series a go. It's not so bad after all. Also I can't wait for Obsideo now!! If it follows this pattern of getting better, than it is going to be amazing!!
I am going to give Gemina four out of five hearts.
3112063
I really enjoyed this story. It's even better than the first book. I hope there will be more adventures for this group...
4215021
Better than the first one.  I really enjoyed the performance by Benedict Cumberbatch as Kahn.  Nothing like the previous Kahn, but who cares, this guy was great.
2932379
I'd had no plans to read this book, but I stopped in the library and it was sitting there right in front of me, and I figured what the heck.

The forced wittiness that bothered me so much in the first book is definitely better here - though I think I'm still sensitive to it because of it's previous overuse. It feels as if it serves to keep us at a distance from Charley, which I don't really like. Added to the completely selfish thing (with no care about some pretty serious possible consequences) she does at the end and I'm left a little stupefied.

Again though, I love the world-building, and the plot was interesting again. A little less so on the plot this time because we know who Reyes is (which was the most compelling part in the first book).

There's some good stuff with Charley and her family that really makes me hope that we're going to be able to really know Charley at some point, but I didn't feel much closer to her in this book than I did the first (another big draw back).

Once again, Darynda Jones knows how to end a book on one hell of a cliff-hanger. Which made me immediately go out and pick up the next book.
2321740
Very good sequel - better than I expected. I hope the series continues.