3.5 Stars 
 This was a good book, but more of a transition book. Despite introducing two new main characters, Scarlet and Wolf, not a ton happened in the overall scheme of the story. That's not to say that this was a dull book. It wasn't. But at the end of the book, the plight of the Earthens and the Lunars had only progressed a single step since the previous book, instead of an entire book's worth of progression. 
 The characters were well done for the most part. Scarlet is a strong and independent heroine, just like Cinder. JUST like Cinder. Unfortunately, she was so similar to Cinder that I sometimes confused which girl I was reading about. 
 Wolf, Scarlet's traveling companion, was well written. He was probably my favorite, until the events towards the end of the book. 
 Thorne was a good character too, once I got a feel for who he was. Which wasn't until about halfway through the book. He is introduced as being an idiot, and he acts "not all there" when we're first introduced to him, so I figured that his character had some sort of mental development problem, and his character became a nuisance. Later in the book, he acts like he's airheaded, vain, and simple, but those are personality flaws and not mental handicaps. I had to go back and rethink his actions throughout the entire book once I realized that he wasn't actually mentally handicapped. I wish the author had made it more clear what kind of character he was from the beginning. I would have appreciated him more. 
 The main thing that was weird to me was how time flowed. Halfway through the book, it seemed like it had been a week or two since the events at the beginning of the book....but then Scarlet mentions that its only been a day. The character developments seemed well-paced. Nothing FELT wrong. Until Scarlet mentioned that it had only been a day, after which it made everything seem like it was going way too fast. Character relationships were developed well in the context of the story, but when you look at the actual timeframe, it seems unrealistically quick. 
 Nevertheless, it was still a very good book. I liked the characters and enjoyed the story. Scarlet and Cinder were both kickass, Wolf was adorable in his wild, insecure way, and Thorne was...charming comic relief. A nice second installment in the series, but I'll be looking forward to more action in the third book.