Book Four in an amazing must-read series
...and the playground politics continue. Rich vs. Poor, Power vs. the powerless. Those at the top of the food chain use people as pawns on their climb to the top of the power ladder, and these kids have been learning those lessons since kindergarten.
Getting to book four in a series where reading the first three is crucial to understanding what is going on, means that before the final book comes out, I’m going to have to, and most importantly, want to, re-read this series. Also, before these books, I hadn’t read the multi-character-POV and it is crucial to the plot of the book. I’m loving it.
If there was one character I’m beginning to have respect for, it’s Colt, and he’s developing a mature realisation that you can’t always control the world around you. It’s hard not to have an appreciation for his now albeit self-sacrificing character, and there was a time that I would’ve happily thrown him under the bus, but discovering ‘feelings’ is changing him, and they’re going to break him before he can rebuild a better man. It’s easy to forget that his initial damning behaviour contributed to the war of power and revenge between Arcadia and Riverbourne when we see how broken he actually is, and I still don’t know whether I could be as fully forgiving as the characters involved. The social issues that mill around in my head are unresolvable. Still, there is another book to go, and I have some re-reading to do in preparation!
Seriously, if there is one thing that I want to convince you of, it’s that I unreservedly recommend not only this book, but the entire series, because a series it is, and it must be read in order. I hear you say, ‘but I don’t read Young Adult’ and I reply to you, well neither do I, but Max Henry is an author who can pull a book together and have you gagging for more, regardless of the trope!!! Hell, this whole plot has more U-turns, twists and half-truths than a political party debate at election time! Money and reading time well spent I say. 5 Stars.