The Good
I love young adult stories badass women excelling and searching for revenge so this was right up my alley! Ikenna is a ball of anger, pride and grief. I love that she is unabashedly talented and knows it. Reed and Ikenna had good chemistry. I liked the push and pull between them. The trials were the best part and were each super interesting and fun.

The Bad
The story really dragged for me towards the end. The mystery of who killed Ikenna's grandfather couldn't keep my interest and once the trials were over I felt like the wind was taken out of the sails of this story. It felt like it turned into another book. I feel conflicted about Reed. He cares for Ikenna and is better than Chance but is ultimately entirely complicit in these sick trials and believes in them. I found it laughable in one part of the book where he wanted to know what Chance said because what exactly was he going to do about it? Nothing. He was all morals and protocol in a system he was aware was corrupt and unfair. That made him less appealing to me. This book was gruesome which I enjoyed at sometimes and hated at others. The cannibalism grosses me out very bad, so much so I considered dropping the book. This isn't a negative for those with a strong stomach but for my fellow squeamish folk here's a warning.

Format:
Ebook — Libby

The Rating
I give this book a 3/5