This is another book whose fascinating conceit and extremely trenchant social commentary is embedded with the fairly strict framework of the YA novel. (Which I feel like I need to talk about as a genre, because YA is encroaching on mystery/19th century novel in terms of how it structures its beats and necessary stations of the plot. Note to self, do that somewhere else.)
This is probably a good thing; it's more than time for us as a culture to require thoughtful idea to only be expressed in certain genres. And I realize I say this as someone who grows increasingly grumpy at first person YA novels set in the present tense, and Goodreads really should have a two-tiered systems for "this is a great book for someone in the mood to read it and I'm not, but also I think the author is doing something brilliant and don't want to miss out because my brain-space isn't right for it."
There were a few moments where it felt Camille had been required by plot to make the wrong choices because plot, which annoyed me, and there was the inevitable "books come in from the hold shelf when they come in from the hold shelf and not when you are in the mood for the genre" and my brain really wants non-YA fantasy that won't take forever to read...which is a bit of a problem, because my shelves are basically sci-fi and ya at the moment.
Anyway, good book both in its ability to provide precisely what its genre promised and in the thinky stuff underneath.