I liked this final installment for the most part, but it felt a little dragged out at the end. Like, I kept expecting it to be done and it just kept going. Shusterman does a good job tying up all of the loose story lines, but once they're tied up, things keep happening? I read this all in one night, but mostly because I desperately wanted to see a world where the population finally came to their senses and stopped letting this happen. Did it end on an element of hope? I guess you'll have to read it to find out.

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Despite the problematic elements that begin to creep up in this book particular (more on that in my blog post), I read through this third book more quickly because the sense of urgency was back. Connor's on the run. Risa's on the run. Lev's on the run. Starkey is terrorizing the US, eliminating harvest camps with a violent, terrorist fury: killing everyone on the spot. What I liked about this installment was that we see more of how society got to the point of unwinding, and how propaganda played a heavy role in making people believe that they needed unwinding in order to stay safe. Because teenagers are scary.

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I thought the premise of this book was fascinating; having so many points of view gives you a lot of perspectives on one particular situation. Each of the different authors gives all the characters a unique voice following their unique writing style. My favorite aspect of the story was these different voices, reflecting an actual high school community.

Though I liked the anthology aspect of this book, I'm not sure this particular kind of story lends itself to this style of writing. I enjoyed the different voices included, but I didn't feel like I could get invested in any of the characters specifically. Since I'm someone who reads for character, the small snippets didn't allow me to get invested in their story.

The subject matter also felt a bit out of touch to me, especially given how much attention school shootings have gotten in the media lately. It felt as though it lacked diversity, and any characters who were from diverse backgrounds and such are the ones that were killed. It is a sensitive topic that wasn't quite dealt with in the right way, in my opinion.

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Will spends most of his days at his job at Dollar Only with Major Tom, stocking the isles with all sorts of new goodies. At night, he desperately tries to replicate his dad's cornbread recipe, working through his grief after his father's suicide. When he finds out that Playa was raped at a party where he was at, he begins looking for ways for to help her through her trauma as well. Through small acts of kindness to those around him, Will begins to learn how to cope with his own grief.

Told in series of one hundred words, Will's story is presented in a unique way that keeps you reading throughout the entire book. At first, the format of the book threw me off, but by the end, I was impressed that the author was able to stick to these short bursts of story--and how well they worked together. The writing itself almost feels like a graphic novel, without the images supporting the text. However, it didn't feel like the book was missing anything--in fact, the format felt refreshing to me.

The only critique I have of the text is that I could have used a bit more context at the beginning. Though the format makes it difficult to portray any background information, adding a section or two would help the reader to be better oriented right at the beginning of Will's story.

Despite the disorientation, I enjoyed Will's story, especially his desire to reach out to those that seem lost like him. Will's story shows the affects of little acts of kindness--and how much they mean to those that are hurting.