I feel like I got tricked :/ This book doesn't read so much as a Whodunnit, as it does a reimagining of "Catcher in the Rye". The narrator is untrustworthy, damaged, largely unlikable, and he makes the story about him when it should be about the murder mystery. It was well written, in a literary study kind of way. But it was not a well written /mystery/ novel, if that makes sense. I called a lot of the ending from the first few chapters.

This book is FUN! It's a lot like reading an anime: talking cat, fighting robots, damsel with a destiny who expresses herself by whacking people upside the head... It's got swashbuckling, it's got romance, it's got great comedic dialogue. I really enjoyed seeing a German-inspired sci-fi/fantasy setting, as so many books use either America or England for their frame of reference. And I really loved big, strong, awkward, unsure, hopeful, traumatized, Agatha. I would looove to see this series brought to Netflix or something.
Was it the most "literary" thing I've ever read? No. Was it the adventurous, humorous, breath-of-fresh-air I desperately needed? Absolutely! Cannot wait to dive right into the next book.

Short Version: Not enough zombies.
Longer Version: This book is just a copy of "Pride and Prejudice" which someone copy and pasted into a Word document, then replaced various words, adding "zombie", "ninja", and excessive bodily humor references. There is little to no adaptation or wit. And how a zombiefied British countryside relates to Eastern martial arts bewilders me. The gimmick was funny for a chapter or two, but not an entire book. Not to mention, the book retains all the difficulties of the original, chiefly that the entire plot happens off-scene in letters.

This book is a mashup of Hunger Games, Zootopia and Handmaid's Tale, and I'm just wondering... who asked for this?! Triggers, triggers, triggers; there is both a trigger warning at the front and a list of assault and abuse hotlines at the back. And yet despite being such unsettling subject matter... the book also has many boring, cliche story beats. I found myself hurrying through the book because I /wasn't/ enjoying it, and just wanted the nightmare to be over. I get that there are devastating, sensitive topics which folks need fictional mirrors to help them explore... but this was both "too real" and Uncanny Valley, traits I don't go /looking/ for when I pick up a book.

This book, unfortunately, fell to the same curse as the Game of Thrones TV show: It starts incredibly strong, pulling you in with its ambience; then midway you start to wonder "Which of these characters am I meant to be rooting for? I don't know that I like any of them."; and by the end the author is patting herself on the back for the importance of storytellers, and it makes you wonder why you bothered sitting through this tale in the first place.

This book had a strong opening... but became incredibly disappointing the minute Darrow entered the above-ground city. Every major plot beat or character moment was lifted straight from Hunger Games. Every bit of action or flavor was The Lightning Thief meets Battle Royale, or Lord of the Flies even. Those mashups might sound exciting, but they came across as crass, even as plagiarism. Everything original - all the space-age technology and culture - was left in the dust in favor of land battles and defecation, which fantasy novels have detailed before, ad nauseum. I regret that the fact that this book takes place IN SPACE, IN THE FUTURE, meant nothing.

If you want a better space-age civil war, watch The Expanse.