Thanks Matt, plenty to get my teeth into there!
To answer your last point first, I believe all of this would make perfect sense to a reader of the first book – which you can’t be yet, of course!
I will go and look at the blurbs of a few other sequels to see how much backstory is taken as read, how much is explained and how much is left out.
Point 1 – Thank you!
Point 2- Good idea, pose a question and then answer it partially… without a spoiler of course!
Point 3 – the ‘win’ is mainly the subject of the first book, he’s defeated an immediate danger, but the larger threat remains. I can see that it needs work to clarify this.
Point 4 – Byron, the Big Bad. His world dying is basically his motivation for everything in the series, so it’d be clearer to someone who had read book 1.
Point 5 – Good point, definitely. Again, book 1 explains that the existence of the Fae is a secret, and would cause widespread panic and fear if it got out (it’s basically the ticking clock in book 1). I could make it clear here, it won’t spoil anything and would clarify the stakes.
Point 6 – Another case where if you’ve read the first book it’s clear, but it’s not obvious to someone who might have picked up book 2 by accident.
Thank you so much for the feedback, it’s very helpful. Although I’m thinking I might have been better off doing the blurb for book 1!
