Very interesting world building and an interesting main character, but ultimately this felt like it hit so many of the same dystopian buttons. I would have really LOVED this back in 2010. I enjoyed our main core cast of characters, but the plot is ultimately what disconnected me from the book as a whole. It didn't go anywhere interesting or new, and the cliffhanger ending didn't feel all that exciting.

Also I'm not sure how to word this, so I'll just say that all the racial/refugee prejudice toward Talin felt weird.

Marie Lu continues to be a very skilled writer, however; no matter if I've loved her novels or simply found them okay, her writing has always been very good and usually what keeps me going if I'm not enjoying the story as much. I'm glad that she successfully rode the YA dystopian wave throughout the 2010s and is still trying to write interesting stories.