The neat thing about this structure is that the protagonist has no reason to trust the protagonists of the first book, and vice versa. Nor does the reader necessarily know better: Dante, the rogue mage with a heart of copper-at-best, may well have thrown in with the bad guys. Whoever they are. Including or excluding Anne's father. There's plenty of suspicion to go around, plus poison, ghosts, blood, curses, blood curses, and plotters using other plotters. But -- in keeping with the structure -- all comes to a triumphant conclusion, leaving open only the fate of the universe for the final volume.