Django Wexler is just so much fun.
And he's such a thoughtful writer of politics, which is extremely fun to read. He knows how to balance the edge of "the revolution has to be believable" with "no one wants to read about the protagonists getting crushed like bugs".
Also, I had somehow forgotten that the b-plot in the last book existed and so they got to the city and I was like "Oh, right, Tori has been busy".
But the nice thing about these books is they are self contained and catch you up quickly on what you missed in the last book and also stand pretty well on their own. And Wexler definitely sticks the landing.