The first book was pretty good - it certainly didn't deserve the kick back it got from people who barely skim read it. This was a better book in terms of structure. As well as Cyra and Akos, there are two new viewpoint characters, a good choice since Roth cannot write male pov for toffee. The pacing still plods but not as badly as the first book.. I find the world building slightly better developed in this book. While I am not fussed about the romantic subplot I thought it was well handled here and the main plot came to a satisfying close. I don't think Roth will ever hit the jack pot of story telling like she did with Divergent, but this is pretty good.