[June 2012] 
 So I see that I gave this 5 stars back when I first read it, when I stayed up long past bedtime with an ARC, eagerly devouring page after page. And this time.. I'm downgrading. The story is still exciting, and a page-turner in the best possible ways. The pacing is fantastic. But the characters... it just doesn't feel as immediate, which is odd for something written in the first-person present. It's not quite literary middle-child syndrome, but you do know there's a lot being set up for the final book. 
 I still whipped through it in a day, though, so obviously I didn't hate it. 
 [May 28, 2009] 
 Every bit as good as the first. The mood, the tone, the pacing--there's nothing about this that isn't awesome. To say anything else would be amazingly spoiler-ific. But whew, what a fantastic book this was!