For me Ahern's books are hit and miss. Sometimes I love them and sometimes I can't read them. I was a little skeptical going into this story but once I started there was no stopping me. I couldn't put the book down. 
 Celestine is our heroine and a very unwitting one at that. This world that Ahern created feels all too real. One minute life is normal for Celestine and the next the entire country hates her for helping an old man on a bus. Why? Because he is flawed. And not just a flawed human being (as we all are) but branded physically flawed. To me this called back to WWII with the knowledge of what was done to Jews. It called back further to my own great grandparents and what they went through in WWI in Armenia. Go further back to the idea behind slavery. People deciding others are less than human. It made me sick but I wanted to route for this girl who could only tell the truth about why she stood up on a bus and tried to help someone who society told her wasn't worthy of her effort. 
 The worst part is that Celestine is branded flawed for helping a flawed person. See if you are flawed you can help another flawed. A flawed person can help a unflawed but not the reverse. It is not illegal because the "Guild" is a morality court not a legal one. And yet this country lives in fear of being brought before them. 
 And then they tell you about the red armband you must where because some people were branded in places clothing would cover. And to top that off you are stripped of privileges like eating delicious food? And you are monitored. 
 This isn't a criminal being asked to go to a parole officer. This is them reading your diary, testing your blood to see if you've had any alcohol or too many sweets. This is them telling you that you aren't worthy of going to school with everyone else, not worthy of having a good job. And then unflawed can abuse you without much in the way of consequences. 
 Honestly, it is sick and it sounds a lot like the way our world is heading. I don't believe there should be laws telling you what you can and can not believe. You should be free to believe, free to help others and free not to like someone. 
 And there is the rub. Celestine tells the world she believed in helping this man not because he was flawed but because he was a human being worthy of compassion and it is then only logical to help him. Compassion and logic. 
 I have to say that I read it very quickly and then picked up the second book. I'm just floored.