Julianna Baggot has created a dark dystopia where powerful people have made decisions 'for the good of all' that leave others on the outside - literally. There are some bits that are weak - the hints at romance, and some characters that seem to be there mainly to carry along exposition and bring our main characters together. Some 'speeches' come across as something that the author wrote as description and then tried to clumsily translate into something a character would say out loud, but it just doesn't flow. Also, at least two characters seem to be involved mainly for cheap plays on the reader's emotions, though that may simply be because they aren't given as much time in the plot as I would have liked. But the world is fascinating, and the two main characters, Pressia and Partridge, held my interest and my emotions. The world painted is one that's not so hard to imagine, and the landscape is very vividly described. I'll be giving the second one a try when it comes out.