For the first bit of this book, I was rather hooked. It had the makings of something that I would really enjoy and like. And it had a pretty decent chance of convincing me to continue on and read the second book in the series. And surprisingly for me, I totally forgot a Netflix series existed for this show to ruin anything of it for me, not that the show was at all decent.

You get introduced to a range of characters and immediately get to see them in action. Can see their strengths and weaknesses. Some mysteries about the characters and questions that you want to get answered throughout the book. And sure they have some of your typical YA character issues, and honestly they don’t come off their age at all. But in general they worked well for me, and I actually cared for these characters and wanted to see were things went for them.

The world they introduce you too is rather dark and depressing. You have obvious class warfare and war and slavery and just a very inhospitable world in general. It works well for the story that will be told. This isn’t a fairy tale world, and it isn’t a fairy tale story. And it is obvious that things will be tough and hard for the characters to deal with.

Now the story itself, without many spoilers is pretty generic I would say. Story you have read and watched and played a million times. A typical heist story, group of characters needs to get into a place and get something than escape. And the story will be following the entire process and all the issues that arise with it and the issues with the plans and such. You have seen it before.

But that plan part is when things fall apart for me during the reading. Things just always seem to work out somehow, in an almost magical way. All the odds seem stacked against the characters, and than suddenly it is revealed that all of this was previous planned. Somehow the plan failing in this odd way and going in this other direction was actually the plan all along. But it makes it feel unearned with the characters escape this new situation, they are not working and thinking and making things work on the go. It just all just happens to fall into place, and when it is done your left felling like this win was unearned.

Would I personally recommend this book. Well I would say it depends on what your looking for. Looking for a pretty typical YA book. Bunch of teens who are way too good for their age doing outrageous and crazy things. Good enough to keep you turning the pages, but not deep enough to really remember or think about a day after you put it down. Sure pick it up and read it, why not it is a quick and easy read. But if you were hoping that it would be anything else, a good heist novel or making you question the morality of the characters or the world or anything deeper. Than pass on this novel and go read something else, you won’t find it here.