The alluring cover with gold tone lightning will probably catch the eyes of readers who are browsing in book stores, and they will be happy if they add Alexandra Bracken's book to their shopping cart! I actually have not read her first book, and I wondered if I would feel that I was missing essential information to be able to enjoy this one. Luckily, my worries were wrong. This book starts out with fast action combined with enough information to understand the scary, futuristic setting. However, so many subtle parts of this frightening world are a part of modern news: the fearmongering to create enemies and thus control the population, kids forced to live in camps, and people who are "saying the words they wanted me to say" (page 21 of this excerpt) in order to keep or obtain political careers. I DEFINITELY want to read this book!