Victories Greater Than Death

I really liked All the Birds in the Sky, so I was excited to read Charlie Jane Anders's YA debut, but unfortunately it ended up being a huge disappointment to me. Everything about it, from the writing style to the dialogue to the character interactions, was strangely childish, far below the actual ages of the characters. The action often jumped around like a drunken grasshopper. Things happened just to happen, without moving the story or character arcs forward. There was plenty of diversity, but it seemed mostly one-dimensional and felt shallow and perfunctory to me, like filling a quota, a la '80s and '90s kids' shows. Definitely won't be picking up the sequel.