I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it was good. I liked it, and I think I'll check out the next book. On the other hand, it was okay, and I don't know if I want to check out the next book because I don't know how the series is going to progress. I know that sounds contradictory, but hopefully once I'm doing with my review, it will make more sense. So, let me start out by saying that I love Richelle Mead. She knows how to write an amazing story that draws you in, and never lets you go. You want to keep reading because the story is packed with romantic tension, action, and great characters that make you laugh and are kick-ass. 
 When I went into this book, I wasn't expecting anything less than normal from Ms. Mead. However, I was slightly disappointed. The story offers a great premise, but I feel that the book itself was just too long. There was a good amount that probably could have been cut out, and the story wouldn't have suffered. This leads me into my first point, the world-building. I believe that there is a fine line between too much world-building and not enough. This book was bordering on not enough. As the story progresses, you learn more and more about the world, but by the end, there are still a lot of holes in the world. This world that Ms. Mead has created (and it shows her amazing creativity and ingenuity) is entirely new to any reader. It is technically dystopian, but not the dystopian that anyone is used to. Ms. Mead has crafted an entirely new world, but it's not heavily explained. As you read more and more of the story, you can start putting things together, and the elements of the world begin to make sense, but there are still things I'm interested in learning about and am unclear on. Perhaps in future books, Ms. Mead will go into more detail, but I don't really see that happening because the story might drag and be bogged down. 
 The characters are my next love/hate relationship. I loved Mae. She was awesome as a character. She is a kick-ass heroine that is tough as nails and doesn't take anything from anybody. However, there isn't enough of her POV in this book. This book is largely from Justin's POV (which was something I wasn't expecting). While Justin was interesting as a character, I would have much rather read from Mae's perspective more times. Justin is also a character I just kind of like. Personally, I still think he's a arrogant jerk that needs to grow up, and I don't really understand what Mae sees in him. But, at the same time, I did kind of like him by the end of this book. He grew on me, but not too much. Maybe in the next book, his character will develop more, and learn there is more to life than woman after woman, alcohol, and drugs. Also, there was a certain lack of humor between the characters. There were some funny parts, but not enough, and I felt the story was heavier and dragged because of it. 
 One thing I did like was the alternating POV. Ms. Mead wrote the perspectives extremely well, and each character was distinct and had their own voice. In some ways, it also allowed the story to be more complete, but I wish the POV's were spread more equally between the characters. Like I said above, I would have liked to see more from Mae, and less from Justin, or at least have them both have the same amount of chapters. Now I didn't count how many chapters each person had, but it seemed that Justin had many more chapters than Mae. 
 So overall, I would give this a solid 3 stars. It wasn't the greatest novel from Richelle Mead, but it does show promise. You can tell how much research and effort Ms. Mead put into crafting a unique story that incorporates dystopian and gods/goddesses. I think it's an interesting combination, and I would like to see where the story leads. I hope that in the following novels there is more action, and if the ending was anything to go by, I am almost 100% certain that Ms. Mead will deliver. Check this out if you are looking for something new, but don't expect to be blown away. I would recommend sticking around for the next book just because I know Richelle Mead will write a great story that is action packed.