I've heard good things about the author (Alexandra Bracken), and from this excerpt, they're all deserved! From the very first page, she has me wanting to know more about these characters and the world they live in. Though it soon becomes clear that the world she describes here isn't quite ours, it's just as evident that the story is going to feel relevant to today, what with protesters and people fighting to make lives better for a part of the population that has been recently prosecuted--I'm really left wanting to know more here; now!