It had been so long since I'd read the first book, so jumping straight into this one without rereading it was a bit of a mistake. Thankfully there are some recaps in this books that refreshed my memory, but I was still missing some pieces.
However I did find myself really enjoying this book, and fell back into the groove, and caring for the characters.
I would have liked a little more meat to the epilogue, but I find myself feeling that way pretty often, so it might just be a me thing. ( )

This was an incredibly compelling sequel that really built on an intriguing political system.

Especially reading this book in today's climate, I was really impressed with the political world building that Ahern has done. It is very obviously dystopian and requires suspension of disbelief; however, it's at the same time very believable. It seems to focus on a rather small state, which makes it work.

It's intriguing that even in a society where everyone almost had equal rights, people found a way to divide themselves. It really hit home and showed the importance of unity and the prevalence of fear. Maybe it was the time period I was reading it, but I found this to be a great example of why dystopian books can be very relevant and serve as warnings.

The premise and the strong writing were definitely the strongest aspects of the book, however. A lot of the events in this book fell too nicely into place and happened so fast that I found myself confused as to how exactly they had worked so perfectly. There's a lot of subtle plotting that I wasn't quite a huge fan of. But all of this builds the plot so I guess I can't complain too much.

I also wasn't terribly enamoured with any of the main characters other than Celestine. It seemed like all of the side characters were absolutely awesome, but there was a looot of focus on the romance and the romantic relationships where I would have enjoyed more development between Celestine and her sister or mother. Still, I appreciated that intriguing characters did exist.

The revolution was intriguing, and Celestine was a beautiful character for this genre--the way she felt so unintentional made her feel so much more real than characters of other novels.

I loved this book and wholeheartedly recommend it to any fan of dystopias or fascination with politics. ( )

This jumps straight into the action right after FLAWED, with Celestine on the run after her family is threatened and tensions are high. She’s finally reunited with Carrick, who we haven’t heard even a word from over the course of the first book, but here, their romance finally has a chance to blossom.

This gets super twisty and complicated as Celestine has to decide how she wants to proceed with potentially damaging information against her ex-boyfriend’s father, the man who branded her, who also happens to be the leader of the guild. Does she want redemption for herself, or is she fighting for all of the flawed? Cecelia Ahern raises some great questions in this, and it was a fast-paced, interesting dystopian piece from start to finish.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
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The good news is I was able to skip paragraphs at a time because it constantly recaps the events in Flawed. The bad news is...I read the rest if it.

First, I sincerely hope Ahern has changed editors since these were written. Repeating actions that were already performed a few sentences/paragraphs earlier with no mention of a reset that would warrant a repeat. Words missing mid-sentence (ie. "They weren't letting me [go] home for the trial.") And the quote was "I'll COME find you" yet they've been getting this one wrong since right after it was said. Still wrong here. Oh, and I should've kept track of how many times we're reminded that Summer was "a famous model." If I can find this while half-heartedly paying attention, someone who does this for a living should not have missed it all.

At the most basic level, this book's plot is as follows:
1) A characters does a stupid thing
2) They are surprised when it goes wrong, and other characters chastise them for doing something so dumb
3) Then, that other character turns around and does something eerily similar and is confused when the first character isn't supportive
4) Repeat.
This wanted so badly to be Mockingjay. It only made it to Birdbrained. ( )

I loved this series. I've also liked all the other Ahern books I've read so far, btw.
This book picks up a short time after the first one ends, with Celestine on the run, and almost no one she can trust. The corrupt judge, Crevan, is hunting her with all his resources, and it seems highly unlikely that she'll survive, let alone destroy Crevan and the Guild. And still, she really just wants her old life back, right?
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