I was lucky enough to receive a Netgalley advance reader copy of this book, and days after finishing it, I remain emotionally compromised. Still suffering from the most painful book hangover.

If you enjoyed Little Thieves, you won’t be disappointed by Painted Devils. The characters remain as compelling as ever, with satisfyingly realistic relationships. Vanja’s ability to dig herself into messes (and maneuver out of them) feels an awful lot like the inability to look away from a train wreck, in the best way possible.

I’d give this one a solid 4.75 stars. My only minor issues were an episodic feel in the second act that felt a bit like a series of side quests in a video game and made the first half of the book read slower for me. But when it all comes together, it’s worth it, and by the end I was devouring the pages. The second issue (and this is entirely a personal-taste thing) is that modern pop-culture easter eggs can jolt me out of a story, so whenever I came across one, I had to take a moment to re-center myself in the book. There weren’t many that I caught, but enough to mention it.

Overall, these are very small quibbles. This book was another immensely enjoyable rollercoaster of Vanya’s disasters and way too many feels. I have been personally attacked by this book and I love it. Now I’m dying for book three!