This book was fun. It wasn't anything particularly special in the genre - nothing crazy new or original - but I enjoyed reading it and am excited for the next one. I like that Kelsea isn't gorgeous or an amazing fighter or any other kind of "special" that most heroines in books like these are. She has some education and some great advisers...and we are starting to see a little magic, but nothing she knows about or how to control. She's idealistic, which is about right for her age and lack of worldly experience and it's endearing. I like that she has anger issues and can be petty in her anger like a normal 19 year old, but her path to learning how to use and control it is realistic. Mace, the Fetch and Thorne, and of course the evil Census/lottery/slave tribute, are the characters/events one expects, but necessary and well written. And I like Pen. I can't wait to see what happens with Javel and Andalie. And I was very happy that there was not really a "love story" here. I was nervous when the Fetch was introduced, but I like that this was jsut a story of a girl trying to survive and grow into her role - no need for a male interest yet. The one thing that is slightly confusing is the whole "Crossing" thing: what is pre-crossing versus now, how they have organ transplanting and some magic but not gunpowder and heroin and the references to America, famous books like Harry Potter and other familiar things and I feel like the Tearling country is England...but I do not understand the connections between then and now and how the changes that happened came to be. How can one have all that medical expertise of the Old World and then lose it all in a single ship-based crossing? Maybe it will be explained more as we move through the story, but for now it seems like arbitrary anachronisms and steampunk choices...I'm still on the fence about how it feels to me.