4.5 stars.

Rounding down for the slow, YA-flavored start.
Might add a review later.

Excellent writing, editing. It was a pleasure to read.

Looking forward to book 2. ( )

This is an amazing post-apocalyptic, dystopian story from a new author. I mean, the world-building is incredible, and the characters are really nuanced.

The whole Ruling Mother, matriarchal society is a real change from a lot of stories in this genre, so it was really refreshing. All the rules and everything were just fascinating.

Sometimes I kinda wanted to strangle Quiggs, but overall, I think that he was a great character. There are all kinds of sides to him, and the kinds of things that you would see in any person you were trying to deal with. It's nice that even though he's Einstein and Da Vinci rolled together, he's still human and fallible.

I really liked Max. He is an honorable man, and does what he thinks he needs to do.

I can't wait to see more from Beau. His story is going to be fantastic, I think. ( )