I actually did like that she went for a different narrator and setting, since I usually a) don't reread before starting the next book in a series and b) have a memory like a sieve. But it is unfortunate for me that book 1 hit so many of my squee buttons and book 2 doesn't... I suspect if I'd just read book 2 by itself, I would have liked it much better because I wouldn't have compared it so much, but ah well.

I also think Jemisin does a more interesting version of the human woman with some powers/supernatural lover thing that most urban fantasy/paranormal romances are doing, and I really like that her gods and godlings are seriously scary, but I'm predisposed to not like the human woman/more powerful male lover thing just because of all the books like that in the urban fantasy/paranormal romance sphere.