I love this series so hard, and it's so frustrating because I know that none of my friends are going to want to read it! ( )

I really don't get this at all. I found the first one (Shadow) enjoyable. But this is TOTALLY different, it reads like it was writen by a different writer and is a completely different story, not a very good one. I give up on this series (and this writer) here and now. ( )

Plot: What plot? It's farming, neighbourhood conflicts, and a volcano. And a very, very flaky and thread-thin connection to the first volume in the trilogy, with practically no ongoing plots from that one getting picked up here.

Characters: Wooden and flat, and whenever someone interesting comes along he's soon made to do something completely out of character to counteract any possible character development. The book is supposedly about changes in the main character, but he's exactly the same on the last page as on the first.

Style: A lot less confusing than the first volume of this series, but deeply boring instead. There is simply no real connection between the two books, and you are kept wondering why you should even care about what happens here.

Plus: An interesting little society.

Minus: The book thinks it's clever, but isn't. It disappoints after the first volume of the Scavenger trilogy, simply by not doing anything to advance the trilogy.

Summary: I doubt there would be a noticeable gap if skipping this one and going directly from book 1 to 3. Especially seeing as it's back to the starting point anyway. ( )