*RECOMMENDED BY CONNOR WARREN

While I don't think this book is the most sophisticated thing I have read lately, I found it to be very competent YA.

The characters are very interesting. While I wished that they were all a bit older (14 is young, man!), I thought their personalities and mannerisms were interesting, and I found myself looking for people with whom I could talk about them (thanks, Connor). Sam seems like a very stereotypical hero. Astrid is a refreshing female protagonist. She's smart, and I like that. I immediately fell in love with Caine, which I'm pretty sure doesn't count as pedophilia because I'm only like a year older than he is (also he's fictional). I hope to see Diana's character development improve in future books. If Orc and Drake were real, I would honestly just slap them in the face until my hand fell off. Was that supposed to be a Whip Hand joke? I don't know. I like Pack Leader a whole lot. Lana seemed so boring at the beginning, but maybe I'm starting to like her??? Mary is ew and Edilio is irrelevant and Quinn can suck a dick tbh.

Okay, now on to plot. I felt very frustrated with the events for at least the first half of the book. It was maddening to watch the idiot 14 year-olds (SO YOUNG) let babies die and kids drink sodas without brushing their teeth afterwards and not be able to do anything about it. However, I did think that the plot twists got better as the book went on. The writing was not too shabby, especially for YA.

Have I mentioned that I used to go to school with this author's kid?

Long story short, I am hooked.