Review Detail

I started this book as soon as I finished book two and was done in just two days. It moves along quite a bit faster than the rest of the series and I was thankful for that.

The story picks up with Careen in custody and the resistance and OCSD both reeling from the bombing. The general public isn’t being told what happened, but they have their assumptions. Protesters think Wes blew up the building on orders from his OCSD superiors, making them more distrustful and volatile. The country is in a bad place and it’s only getting worse.

The resistance is dealing with the death of one of their own as well as splintering allegiances. Their leader is keeping things from them and they're tired of his methods. Not everyone agrees on the best ways to make real and lasting changes.

The writing in this book is equally as good as the other two, with short chapters that build excitement easily. What sets this apart in the series is that it finally delves deeper. We don’t just see the story play out in front of us anymore. It requires a lot more thought because Ms. Lawson explores what it means to resist.

“The extent to which you resist is the extent to which you are free.”

There’s a profoundness there that was missing before now. Resistance is good, healthy even. In a country with so many people, it would be a very bad thing if everyone were to agree on things. If no one were to speak up. Atari, a character we get to know quite a bit in this third installment, has the most insight into the rebellion. The best moment of the book is when he tells Tommy that there is no winning. That the point isn’t to beat them, it’s to make a difference.

I miss Careen. She’s in the book, but to a lesser extent. I understood why her character went in the direction it did, but it made it a slightly weaker book. She was the strongest part of the first two and no other character steps up to fill the void that her circumstances create. Trina could have if she’d been given more of a role, but she's shuffled to the background except when she occasionally overhears something shocking. I still enjoyed the book immensely, but the difference between this one and the first two is that it was held up by its ideas and action rather than its characters. That’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination, just different.

Ignite is the best of a thrilling series that I can only imagine is going to come to an explosive end. Great writing. Likable characters. Deep ideas. The book is a well-rounded must-read for lovers of young adult fiction.