This was a fast and light read. And it was mostly enjoyable, though definitely a young adult book. I knew it was YA, and I'm not entirely sure what I expected, but I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. 
 The writing was very simplistic. And Col's naivety and flip-flopping bothered me a lot. I mean, I suppose it's understandable given the situation, but I found he came to life-changing conclusions too simply and suddenly. Also, the treatment of female characters in the book was not impressive. Again, I can let some of it go because of the world in which the novel was set, but it still bothered me. But really, all the characters did in one way or another. They all seemed too two dimensional, the way they acted and reacted. Very little of the development felt genuine. 
 That said, the world created is a marvel. And I feel as though it has a lot more potential than what was realized in this book. I think it fell short for me overall because it wasn't fully realized and what was realized was far too simplistic. The short bursts of chapters (hardly even that, at about 3-5 pages each) were also jarring. The scene skips made sense, but there's no reason not to include a scene break instead of starting a whole new chapter. ... But now I'm just being picky. 
 Overall, again, light and easy reading. A bit of a disappointment though.