Review: Intense and suspenseful
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 15, 2013
Contrary to Alex's review, the book is a very fluidly presented mixture of philosophy and suspense, and uses history (recent as well as dated) to create mysterious, tense characters of different backgrounds but all drawn together for different reasons.  I enjoyed that the characters each had their own stories that we followed through the book (though some already know each other), instead of skipping all that to go straight to when they are together like in most books.  The author has thoroughly detailed all the situations, and is clearly quite familiar with the situations himself.  Everything is written in such a way that I feel what the characters feel: I understand Zoe's need for revenge, Zakhar's loneliness and anger, and the others were slightly harder to relate to.  But this power-struggle is so intense and so real that it makes me remember that people really do feel it that strongly.I also give a thumbs up for the military terms, which were all outstanding (it's always disappointing to read a military-related novel only to find that the author has absolutely no clue what the military is :P ).The author truly put all he has into the book, and it felt so real.  In my opinion it is on the same level as The Hunger Games.  Fast-paced, tense, suspenseful, well-written, and kept me reading.  Thumbs up!