Summary
Celestine North is on the run. She’s been branded “Flawed.” She’s hiding from Judge Crevan who is desperate to find her – or to find the evidence he thinks she is hiding.
The judge will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He harasses the Flawed to get them to sell Celestine out. He arrests her grandfather. His desperation grows every day.
Several powerful people seem interested in helping Celestine – but who can she really trust? Will anyone stand for what is right? Or are these people only out to secure more power for themselves?
Review
I loved book one, Flawed, in this dystopian duology. If you haven’t read it, you should. I highly recommend it.
This story does a great job of exploring what it’s like for the Flawed to live day to day – the rules about what they can eat, how many can be together in a group, the curfews, etc. Then there are the complications – no one can help them because they would be arrested for assisting the Flawed. If the Flawed bus is shut down, those on board are in danger of breaking their curfew and suffering consequences. Flawed who become pregnant have their children taken away and tagged “Flawed at Birth.”
The story also does well with building suspense as Celestine makes more connections with people who may or may not be trustworthy. Her romantic interests are explored and resolved. Her family grows and changes in response to Celestine’s choices in the first book and then again in this one. And as you watch them change, you also get to see how society starts, slowly, to change around them.
I wasn’t sure if this book would wrap up the story or if it was going to be a transitional book before a third and final volume. This unknown kept me braced for some major backstabbing or some huge reveal that would launch the story off once again as this one started to wrap up. While there was plenty of suspense and some backstabbing, everything wrapped up in a pretty satisfying way.
Definitely read these in order. Definitely read this one if you already read Flawed. There is some language in the book. (Flawed does contain some difficult-to-read scenes for Celestine’s branding.) Many thanks to the publisher, Macmillan, for providing an electronic review copy for me to read in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed reading Perfect!