I'd been looking forward to this one ... I don't know if the timing was off, but I wasn't getting into it. I finished, but I'm not sure how much I really absorbed the story. This is for my neighborhood bookclub, so we'll see if the discussion shifts my feelings (better, or even worse). I had this in all three formats - I went primarily with the audiobook. 

SO MANY SMIRKS - 40 of them. I was SO sick of smirks. I realize people smirk, but I can only handle so many in one manuscript. And I think that's about five ...

A few pages in before we get the MC's name (happens in 1st person, this was 1st person/present tense, one POV). Mare ... 

Little asides to the reader - telling us something then "not that I'd know anything about that". 

The story was she was a silver raised as a red ... yet they bleed that color blood. In her 17+ years, she never cut herself or skinned a knee (or that's what the masses need to believe?) 

Just having the book on my shelf (grabbed from a LFL), without reviewing the blurb, I hadn't realized it was YA. It felt YA. The fairly common trope of the young woman beating all odds to save the dystopian world.  It's been ages since I read Red Rising, but felt like the red/gold in it was similar to the red/silver here. The "powers" of the silvers made me think a little of Steelheart, or The Boys, where those with the powers are more evil than good.  I would have liked a list of the "power" types ... strongarm, telkie, swift, greeny, stoneskin, whisper, oblivion, magnetron, shadow, storm. There were more. It felt like the X-Men. 

We have our young MC ... more than a love triangle, there was the best friend (Kilorn), the boy (Prince#1) who saved her (Cal), his half-brother, Prince#2 (Maven - I had a hard time remembering his name), I even wondered if Lucas might (a security officer) might come into play. At least the leader of the resistance was a woman, not another possible love interest. I didn't really know where it was going with Cal and Maven. 

I realize Fourth Wing was written after this - but I read it first, so the ending/epilogue here felt very predictable. So similar ...

If I'd read this as a teenager, I think I would have liked it a lot more. If I'd read it before the glut of other YA dystopia/paranormal stuff, I probably would have liked it more.  As it is, I'm not invested enough to continue on with the series, but I might read the blurbs :)