Kai

The same people who had watched him kill civilian after civilian after civilian for stealing medicine in order to sell it and survive. Like, for many people it was personal because they knew people he had killed. And to their knowledge, he and the rest of the government had yet to find an actual cause, let alone a solution. So they were seriously becoming disillusioned with the government. I mean, there were serious plans for the rebels. They had a lot of very angry and hurt people.

I loved Caldon!!! He was such a fun character?? Oh, and I so shipped him with Tor…

Kinda bummed they didn’t end up together 😞 I thought they suited each other pretty well, too. I think Tor is straight, tho? I mean he liked Ashley and that’s the literal only person he shows interest in. Imagine he wasn’t, he was bi, and simply did not vibe with Cal 💀 I know Cal’s would be wounded if that was the case.

That said, I did like Cal and Cresta together :3 they also suit each other!!! The teasing, will they won’t they thing they had was really entertaining. It provided some levity when Kiva was actively losing her mind over Jaren.

Ashley and Tor… not many thoughts on them. I don’t think they had enough page time for me to form an actual opinion on them as a couple. Just… two neat people, I suppose.

Adam was a mean mf, yeah. He was. When he yelled at Juliette it was so weird. Bc he had not been like that previously… but I digress.

But Aaron actively lied to her face n admitted that he was trying to make her tweak out. As well as just. Insulting her point blank. And generally being dismissive 😭.

Idk. I kinda didn’t like either of them? Aaron had a major arc tho. He kinda stayed the same… erm… friendless… except for Kenji! So, progress! Yippie!

Cant wait for the new book that’s coming out soon :)

Listen, I know he’s a complex little dude, but on the other hand he annoyed me personally. I generally really like characters like him, but for some reason I was almost completely unable to empathize with him.

His abuse at the hands of his mother was an awful, tragic thing. Of course it had longstanding impacts on who he is, his values, and general outlook on life.

And I do feel some sympathy for him. Especially because of Maven’s relationship to Cal, and how it was taken and twisted by his mom. I know my older brother cares about me, and I do too, so just knowing that he was robbed of that same connection is… distressing, almost.

But also whenever he started yapping in King’s Cage I was already waiting for Mare to just tell him to shut up 😭😭 like girl why are u trauma dumping to the girl u kidnapped…

Idk if it was Maven’s intention to kinda force Mare to see him, but it did not work for me. All I saw was him being whiny as he quite literally slowly kills Mare because of his fucked up ability to love. And that’s not all his fault, but him kidnapping her is. That was all his own doing, no matter how shaped by circumstances he was.