A series that is like a study in trauma, with protagonists Todd and Viola continually encountering the morally questionable and flatly immoral tactics of a small colonial city under siege from itself. Well-written with a tension that sustains throughout, this book demands to be taken almost compulsively by the reader in small doses -- enough to allow that sense of horror, a look away, then a return to the relentless build-up. Enjoyable if at times emotionally punishing for something billed as a young adult book. (I took years to return to this series after the events of the first, but perhaps having lived through the real world traumas of the pandemic and a President Trump, I was a lot more resilient for this second in the trilogy. ;) )