I handed this book off to my sister this afternoon having promised she could read it when I was done with it. And the first thing she asked me was, "How was it?" 
 My reaction was, "Ehhhhh?" and to shrug. 
 So, I feel like that conveys my reaction to this. Hence the 2-star "it was okay" rating. 
 The concept is interesting but the execution for the most part fell really flat for me. I felt like the strongest part of the book was the beginning, for me. Getting to know Sloane and James, who their friends are, what they've been through, how they're not allowed to grieve properly for fear of being flagged by The Program. It was actually rather poignant in places. And the real depth of their sorrow came through. 
 But as things progressed, I never really felt attached to anyone. A lot of the exposition in the middle ends up being a lot of "telling" instead of "showing"... which I understood as a device for the narrative (Sloane is baring all to her psychologist) but it never drew me in. 
 I found the boys in this book rather problematic as well. James, in the beginning, was fine, but as the book progressed I was really confused by his behaviour. Realm is a complex character, but does some horrific things (to Sloane in particular) and then because of how the narrative is framed (and how the plot device works) he's still portrayed as one of the "good guys". I had a really hard time with that. 
 It's clear that there's more going on here than meets the eye. Realm's behaviour midway through the book gives that away. But it's frustrating because, as I suppose I should've expected, nothing is really resolved at the end of this book. Yes, it's a duology, and yes, I know the intent of the ending is to make me want to keep reading. But everything is so vague and unclear. And instead of it being compelling it was annoying. 
 (view spoiler)[As is the norm with most YA dystopians, our heroes are off to join a secret rebellion group at the end of the novel. They'll probably take down the government or something in The Treatment. But it all feels so... unrealistic. I can suspend my disbelief, but there's a limit. (hide spoiler)] 
 To be fair, this book didn't go down the way I expected it to. But if you're looking for complexity, you'll not find it here. This is a typical one-dimensional YA tale with little depth. I'll probably pick up book 2, just to find out what the heck is actually going on, but it certainly won't be at the top of my list.