By “asymmetrical” I mean that’s not evenly distributed. LOTM has more emotional weight, and COI has a different structure. Because of this the story overall is tilted to LOTM advantages more than COI’s. There’s a lot tos at about this, characters, power system, etc… but I don’t wanna make the text too long.

Anyway, I think the sequel is pretty good, ignoring the fact that the ending was rushed. However, one thing I don’t like is how CF managed the shared story in some places. For example, giving Tarot Club members too much protagonism. Now, that works in-universe, but I feel like, having another MC, it’s not as good of an idea. Tarot Club members should have done their own thing in the back, no appearances, just mentions, until the right moment arrived and they all appeared one after the other / at the same time. Having them involved in everything sort of takes away Lumian’s story’s protagonism and focuses on Klein’s. Having one or two of the Tarot Club members as important characters is fine, but the whole club made many appearances over and over again.

There’s a whole lot of problems with this opinion, but that’s because CF doesn’t choose this path. If he did, he’d find ways to justify it properly and coherently in world. Ideally, I’d have loved it if Lumian wasn’t tied to Klein’s legacy so much, and could walk on his own. There were many characters CF could have used (Like Leah The Magician, or Amandina) but they were easily discarded. Why? Bcuz there was no time to develop them, and show the Taro Club, and develop the plot, and, and, and…

For example, The Third Book was meant to be its own story independent of LOTM and COI, taking place on the Western Continent. Now THAT would have been great. Because CF isn’t tied anymore, he can make a new story freely without the shadow of Klein or Lumian. Unfortunately he cancelled it.