Rival

Starting off the book with this press conference/service scene is perfect for people like me because, well, I let myself get a little too excited by the book blurb because I completely skipped book 1 and ran straight into Rival. I'm not mad that I did. I just feel like I missed a lot. It was my own fault. The press conference/service allowed me to kind of catch up with a general sense of what I missed and also kept the storyline moving. Now, it WAS NOT a replacement for reading the first book. I highly recommend that you read these books in order as intended.

Brass tacks:

• I like the timely theme of struggle and acceptance. It's not so hard to see these throughout the relationships in Rival - whether literally within Allison or worldwide.

• The story line just keeps moving. There wasn't a whole lot of downtime, which I appreciate.

• The relationship between Eenoki and Allison reminded me of the relationship between Ender and the Queen in the "Ender's Game" series. This isn't a bad thing! It actually made me more open to understanding what was going on.

Overall: I recommend this book, but read book 1 first so you can enjoy Rival even more!