Holy cow, this is everything I could ever want from a fantasy/sci-fi book. The institute setting was everything. It was able to show the distinct cultural differences between the lowReds and the Golds. Darrow was a man while the others were still clawing their way out of childhood. Every part of the book was captivating. I loved seeing Darrow evolve from rage and anger into strategy and leadership. The rage still was able to drive him, but it didn’t control him in the end. I also appreciate all the friendships Darrow made, and that even though he originally had blistering hate for all Golds, he was able to see them as humans capable of change and possibly even allyship in the future. I loved how Brown wrote the fight scenes. They resembled vignettes more than moving sweeping scenes. This allowed me to understand the fighting, weapons, and political strategies of the characters more clearly.

The only negative thing I have to say about this book is that the chapters sometimes ended seemingly abruptly, or like it was in the middle of a paragraph. If this is the only negative thing though, I think I can live with it for the power the the book pacts in a short amount of pages.