I enjoyed this, but not nearly as much as most of Haddix's other works. The premise was fascinating, I loved the idea of the world, I loved the commentary on what war means and how citizens can be complicit and misled. She had so many interesting ideas.

But this book was so short that there wasn't much time to explore those ideas. And despite the short length, nothing happens for the first 100+ pages. In all the time she spent on set up and getting the characters to the point where they could have growth, she could have been developing the world or their personalities. Instead we got very little about anything and it dragged.

I also had an issue with Tessa's role as main character. She's an incredible passive character, driven solely by external forces. Which can be done well, I love a good passive lead. But it's not done well here. She's whiny and bland and contributes no action or thought in the book until the very end. Had she been more developed, she could have been passive while still being a worthwhile lead, but she didn't work well as the vehicle for the story to me.

I did really enjoy the ending. I think Haddix almost always offers fascinating insight on the world, and it was true here as well. It was just rushed. This didn't need to be an epic novel by any means, but it did feel like it needed more development and more time. It had so much potential, but just fell flat.