Three words: I should've known. 
 The sheer crappiness of both of Snow Like Ashes' sequels makes me very, very hesitant for Raasch's new upcoming series. Because it wasn't just the flat characters, shite romance, boring politics and lame resolution that made this series fall so painfully flat: it was a total and utter lack of direction. Maybe even a lack of planning. SLA could have been a fantastic standalone, tight and concise and brilliantly paced. It certainly marked the last time I ever gave a shit about any of these fucking brain-dead characters. But of course we needed a trilogy, even though no one asked for one. 
 I'm not against series. I would be a hypocrite if I was. In fact, I love series, particularly when it comes to fantasy, because I love huge worlds and complex casts of characters and long, detailed arcs. But when it's meant to be a standalone, it should be a bloody standalone. This books's sequels are like those trashy guests who invite themselves to your house party and then refuse to leave your digs until you eventually call the cops at nine a.m. Then, when they're fleeing the scene, they break your back fence and of course you don't know who they are so you can't send them an invoice. You're just the total fanny who was dumb enough to say, "Bring your friends!" when you made the event page on Facebook. 
 There's pretty much nothing kind for me to say about this book: the only character I ever gave a rat's ass about is the victim of a pretty vicious smear campaign and I'm not here for that shit. Everyone else could have fallen down on the wrong end of a circular saw and I wouldn't have cared enough to blink. It's just--I don't know. There's something so half hearted about these sequels. You get me? I feel the same way about this as I did about that dreadful Young Elites thing that loads of people loved but that made me want to take a nap in the oven. It was just so emotionally dead. And, like Marie Lu, Sara Raasch has written another book before this one that really felt passionate. I loved Legend and I loved Snow Like Ashes. But this dreck just feels...dry. It feels like a mug cake tastes. Like laziness. 
 All in all, a total flop for me. At least the covers look nice on my bookshelf. But I've never been one for interior design, or even cleaning up after myself, so I guess it's fitting punishment for this series to eternally gather dust on the shelves in my trash heap of a bedroom. Sigh.