I haven't been this excited and this disappointed to read a book in quite some time. I've read Maria V. Snyder's Study Series and adored it. I love young adult novels. I love dystopian novels. I love hierarchical novels. I love novels with strong female leads. I was understandably excited to find this book at the library sale.Unfortunately. My real rating is 1.5 stars. I rounded up out of the kindness of my heart.
The story is the same as every other dystopian young adult novel on the planet. The ZOMG TWIST could be seen a mile a fucking way. I could have forgiven the predicable plot if Trella wasn't so fucking impossibly flat. She has no three dimensionality at all.
The main character is flat and annoying. She's not strong or powerful. She's contrarian and doesn't grow really at all throughout the entire novel. There's this moment where she starts believing in Gateway and the Outside, but that's because it's staring her in the fucking face. She doesn't grow. Trella's annoying.
