I loved the boarding school aspect, of course; and the boys - though Jerome was great, I preferred the officers - were great. Lots of great characters; exciting plot.

Admittedly I wasn't very "hooked" at the start, but it was an overall imaginative, compelling read. Pleasantly surprised by the roles Ben and Evan actually ended up playing.

The

Spoiler

"'Nix' isn't even a name" twist, and Nix's siblings

? Bullet straight to the feels. Not convinced by some of the pacing, but it was dark yet sweet.

Funny and sad - sometimes both at once. Lots of sweet BTS action and fluff for known events. Covers a lot of stuff you never realized you wondered about Rangers.

The summary was misleading; Bellamy's dilemma isn't actually whether or not to run. I was disappointed that

Spoiler

Octavia seems to get sidelined

, though that's probably in large part because she's such an active character on the show. But my shipper heart is very very happy with the ending!

Lots of good information, but it seemed super repetitive - which for me was kind of off-putting. I don't begrudge the time I spent reading this, but it's definitely not gonna be my go-to reference in the future.

I found Grace to be a bit of a brat, and Lacey not much better (though, admittedly, they are just 12 years old). Jo and Archer were interesting, though the cranes felt cheesy and overdone.

I didn't like the writing style very much, though it's worth noting that the storytelling was effective enough that I did end up finishing the book regardless. But I wasn't a huge fan of the narrator either - didn't feel like a very dynamic/relatable character to me.

(In hindsight, I definitely was not ready to read this book when I did. The following review, which I wrote at the time, probably reflects that.)

Hated the narrator - indecisive, overconfident, judgmental, misogynistic victim-shamer. Plus the plot seemed to meander and drag.

Despite the archetypicality (is that a word? whatever) I rather liked Landon: alternating sulky brooder and playboy. And in spite of the not-so-unique plot points, it was a well-constructed, well-told tale.