Surprisingly grim for a young adult novel. I guess it is derivative of stuff like "Battle Royale," but I think that is totally okay in a young adult book.

The strength is the early world building which is surprisingly deep for a fairly short novel. The author creates an interesting picture of what appears to be a piece of a broken up United States somewhere in Appalachia. Her depictions of the how the capital works and how the districts are organized are all really compelling. The brief glimpses at the technological level of this society are intriguing, and I would love to see this explored more in the next two books. Hey, I love dystopias, and the author has succeeded in creating an interesting one.

The book can be a bit repetitive, though. There are a few too many scenes of the protagonist being put in costumes, and pretending to be in love. I suppose that the latter is probably going to drive the plot of the rest of the series, but some of that time could have been used for other stuff.