Robin Lythgoe

Volume 2 of the series continues in the vein of "slow," but there is - thankfully - considerably less filler to wade through. The characters remain distant, though one does get a small glimpse of the trauma John Ross faces as he attempts to quit his calling as a Knight of the Word. In the aftermath, he is just plain stupid, in spite of all of his years of experience.

Incredibly, five years after learning about her magic and facing down a demon, Next Freemark doesn't know any more about her magic than she did when Vol. 1 left off. Using it to help Pick balance the magic in the park (without ever telling the reader how this is done) has apparently not offered any opportunities for growth. At the end, her magic experiences a transformation, but it's uncertain whether this is good or bad.

The identity of the demon was easy to guess. The end was pat and predictable.