book 2 fucks me up cos while it does have its own general theme its quite disconnected from the ones about self improvement in books 1 and 3. book 2 is about identity and though lake does change over the course of the story thats not her overcoming personal flaws like a passenger its because she found a family. she's known who she is and what she wants out of life since the beginning of the story and though by design jesse has to have a character arc the point of book 2 is he's not the focus. lake is. and you dont like her because she has a personal failing you see her overcome you like her because she's an enjoyable character to watch who's story you're invested in and you just want to see her get her happy ending because she's fought so hard for it and its what she deserves. its my favourite book because of her and the intensity of her journey and it works really well but in terms of infinity trains main objective as a series its kinda objectively less complex than 1 or 3. and especially when you see how 3 is DIRECTLY building off of book 1's themes with grace and simon mirroring tulip and amelia book 2 rlly just feels like an odd 'hey i wonder what happened to MT' side story going along in brackets (and i feel awful saying that given the point of book 2 is that lake is just as important as any passenger)