3.5 stars

"Anyone can betray anyone."

Combine pieces of The Hunger Games, a dash of The Selection, and sprinkle in some superpowers, and you've got the gist of this book. Similar to THG, it featured classism and a rebellion with a goal of defeating a tyrant. Like TS, it had many girls competing for a prince's hand. But to set itself apart, this story had political intrigue, ulterior motives, a revenge plot, and wasn't focused on romance or teen angst. The romance was there, in a somewhat irritating love square, but ultimately a minor piece in this dystopian puzzle.

Okay, lame summary over.

I'll be the first to admit, this book isn't the most original. It has unique elements, but underneath that is a plethora of reused tropes. I can see why people say you love it or you hate it. However, I'm more in the middle. I enjoyed it, found it surprisingly good and much better than I expected. But it never really gripped me, and the end didn't have the impact on me that it seemed to have on many other readers. This might've had something to do with the fact that I managed to be somewhat spoiled regarding the shocking betrayal everyone hints at.

I liked Mare, but I didn't find her to be anything special. Excluding the fact that she was totally a special snowflake, with mutated abilities no one had heard of. The other characters didn't matter much to me, if I'm being honest. Cal and Maven were alright. Mare's family, while present, were alright. Kilorn was kind of annoying. The king was a jerk and I absolutely despised the queen and Evangeline. Oops.

One thing I didn't like was Mare and Evangeline's relationship. If you can call it that. Evangeline was bitter from the start and I immediately caught on to her self-righteous attitude. It got old quickly, mainly because I've seen it many times in the past. Of course, a rivalry formed. They were always against each other. Why can't girls in YA be friends? I would've loved to see Mare and Evangeline team up to go against the new antagonists revealed in the final chapters. The ending would've been cooler that way, but no. They were pitted against each other. *sigh*

Let's see, what else? Oh! I liked Norta, though I feel like I wasn't told very much about it. And the Red and Silver concept was interesting. I haven't heard of anything like that before. At least, I don't think I have.

I think that's about all I've got to say. This was a good book but nothing more. The ending did intrigue me, though, so I hope to read the sequel eventually! 😊