Onward, to book three!
Since the second book in this series left on a massive cliffhanger, with a TON of unanswered questions, I dove right into this novel.
At the end of book two, Calder was unconscious and Brooke had dragged him miles to... a city.
What? Up until this point, we'd been led to believe that due to the effects of climate change, there wasn't enough land left for people to live on. Yet, at the end of book two, Brooke traverses miles upon miles through the wild and ends up in a settlement. This is when we learn that everything she's ever known was a lie.
As Brooke tries to learn more about world inside the wall, she struggles with trying to fit in. They didn't choose her because they wanted her here. They chose her to come to the city because of her gifts as an artist.
A character we met in book one was also brought to this settlement. The two of them try to team up so they can figure out a way to help their people back on the sea. I liked Jillian, I thought she was a spit fire, but I think some of the side characters in this series blend together because they seem very similar (Lena, Brooke's best female friend, and Jillian are almost the same character in my head).
While Brooke is attempting to fit in this city, Calder is recovering in the hospital. They reunite briefly, before his mother (the damn leader of the settlement) inserts herself and refuses to let them see one another.
By the end of the novel, Brooke has "earned her whites" (a status symbol in this matriarchal society). Calder recovers and leaves the hospital, only to tell Brooke that he's leaving (*sniff* my romance!)
Once again, the lead up to the end was a bit of a rush, and it left on another big cliffhanger--Brooke was on her way outside of the wall, because invaders were coming, and she wanted to convince her people to stand and fight with the watchmen. A bit of a letdown for the buildup, but the novels in this series have followed a pattern, so I wasn't really surprised.
Thanks,
Abbie