I almost can't believe how much I hated this book, especially since I enjoyed The Sparrow so much. I have a laundry list of things I didn't like, and here are the main points.1. Too many scenes from the VaRahkati point of view. It seemed like Russell was more interested in writing a historical fiction piece about Rakhat rather than finishing up Emilio's story. 2. Going along with #1, there were far too many VaRahkati characters to keep track of. Many were introduced for only a short time, yet Russell forced the reader to slog through the history of each character even if they were completely unimportant to the story. Also, Russell switched between using the first, last, and full names of the characters for no apparent reason. I would get used to thinking of a character as their first name, then she would suddenly start using the last name.3. I didn't like any of the other members of the crew. In the first novel, part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was because I really cared about the characters. Russell did a great job in that book establishing the relationships between the characters and making you care about them. Not so in this book. There were basically just cardboard cutouts that Russell stuck on the ship so that it could get to Rakhat.4. Enough about God already. I know it's a Jesuit mission, but I felt like Russell just kept coming back to the same points and banging the reader over the head with them. Look, we get it, Emilio's forsaken God and people are worried (or claim to be worried) about his soul. Move on.5. So you would think that the main action of the book would be when Emilio gets back to Rakhat. Ha! There is barely a chapter on that, and it is at the very end of the novel. This was possibly the most anticlimactic ending I've ever read.*****SPOILERS*****6. I hated the plot in this book. As if Emilio hasn't been through enough! He finally finds love and is about to marry. He has a chance at happiness and healing and a good life. Then Russell has him kidnapped so he can go back to Rakhat. For no other reason than for Russell to engage in a 300 page look at the social impact of the Rakhat's civil war. Even the reunion with Sofia Mendes, which could have been a bright spot in the novel, was a complete letdown. I would have been much happier with this novel had it been about Emilio's journey back from the brink of despair, but instead it left me feeling more depressed than the first one did. ( )

The Sparrow is so powerful that readers may be desperate to get their hands on this sequel. Father Sandoz's involvement with the Jesuits and Rakhat isn't finished yet, no matter how much he'd like it to be. Meanwhile, the society on Rakhat is going through some violent changes. The new characters introduced are not as memorable as in the first book ( )

Let's call this "3 1/2 stars." Didn't pack the punch of The Sparrow. Could be that the wide-ranging settings and times of this story diffused the intensity and sometimes-beauty of the first book. ( )

The Sparrow was more powerful, but this one wrapped up the loose ends. Both are exeedingly good books. ( )

three and half stars really. good read if you like first book (sparrow), not everyone does. better in some ways. answers some questions raised by first and makes sense of various matters. ( )