Art McPherson

What felt like compelling attention to detail in the first book just feels like copypasted trivia propped up by a forced plot. Half of the clues end up being "Hey remember this person? Here's their Wikipedia page followed by a fanfic fight. Remember these books? Here's the protagonist ironically complaining about how solving this clue feels like reading trivia." Honestly, this sequel might as well have been written by a fan, the character arcs mostly take half a chapter and the" epic battles" felt like someone speculating about whether Goku or Superman would win in a fight. As an enby, I appreciate the exploration of LGBTQIA+ themes, mostly the empowerment of kids who were disowned by their parents over their sexuality and the fragility of gender. The first book was by no means perfect but the protagonist had a decent deus ex machina and the antagonist felt well rounded with reasonable motivations. The sequel feels more like an excuse to shoehorn in the unused 80's trivial from the original