I think I liked this better than book one... it felt like it was a stronger book for whatever reason. Or maybe it's just Jess that felt stronger. Regardless, this was definitely enjoyable. 
 Most of my qualms from book one are still here--the characters still feel a little too stock at times and are not necessarily the most interesting part of the story. And Wolfe continues to be my fave, with Santi closing up on #2. Their relationship is so wonderfully complex, even though you only get to see it in snippets. I'm still frustrated about Morgan, who continues to be more of a plot device than a person. And the whole pining romance thing I just don't buy it. It's almost worse here than in book one. 
 This series is somewhat of an oddity for me. I'm more interested in the plot than the characters. And I appreciate that things are clearly about to become more complicated with the way this ended. Hopefully we can keep away some of the 'take down the system dystopian' tropes ala a few years ago that way. 
 I'm accidentally caught up on this series too. I didn't realize the next book wasn't published yet, let alone it was going to be 5 books instead of the standard 3. We'll see how the next installment goes as to whether I stick this one out. But so far, so good.