I liked this one a bit more, though it was pretty FUCKED UP, geez. It felt a little more character-oriented, though, rather than trying to focus on the outlandish story (not that that part doesn't exist, just that the bonding of the characters are always going to be more grabbing to me than the plot).

The ending made literally no sense to me, though. Especially since it was like maybe 10 minutes of explanation and then it was time-jumped and it wasn't really explained before or after as to why the hell it happened or what purpose it even served.

I don't see how forcing some kids to play for a sports team does any crime bosses any good. And they try to make it seem like it's Riko's territory, so then why does "The Master" even bother to get involved? Why would he even care if he's a fucking crime lord? Makes basically no sense.

So somehow I had the romance of this book completely wrong. It took me 1 1/2 books to realize that the love interest was NOT who I thought it was. Not really sure how I missed it, but it's kind of hilarious in hind sight.