In a society, there is a different way we can judge each other, from wealth to skin, to skills and abilities. All can be judged by anyone. Yet what is not the best way to rank ourselves, then by a simple test? A tests that when added up determines your future job, wealth and status.  Taken at the age of ten, the children are tested not only mental and physical, but by an interview and loyalty to their country.  Rated on the scale up to 1500 (but no one gets that) the higher you get, the more likely you get to go on to college or university. The lower you get, the likelihood you would be sent to the fields or mining shafts in the poorest sectors.  Those who fail, they get sent to labor camps who train them to work in the harshest conditions known to man. Think it's fair? Think it’s wrong? Yet no matter what you think, that is how society is, and no one person can change it.

1500 points. No one gets 1500 points. No one. Well except June Iparis. June is the country’s prodigious. Scoring 1500 (the max) at her trial, she’s been set into collages while skipping all of the freshmen courses. Being a military prodigy is not all that it’s cut out to be, as June becomes a rule breaker doing stunts that the university forbids.  If it was not for her older brother Metias, she would have gotten thrown out.  Metias and June are close as their parents died when they were little. For June, Metias is basically her parental figure. Which is why it sparks a rage in June when Metias got murdered during a simple protection mission. June is determined to track down his killer, if it is the last thing she did.

Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. At age 15 he is considered a traitor and a terrorist.  But in the slums, Day is sort of a Robbin Hood. Taking on the military to protect to poor? More like an anti-hero than a terrorist.  Day works alone, until one day he adopted a street kid name Tess. She’s good with medicine and slipping into crowds. Tess depends on Day, treating him like her old brother, but healing him like a mother.  Day’s biggest problem is his family. His mother and little brother Eden believe he is dead, only his older brother John knows he is alive and is terrorizing the city.  Yet when his house is marked with having the deadly plague, Day knew he must break into the hospital and save his family. Risking all Day goes in alone and manages to get the healing serum.  It was not until he was outside and the head officer named Metias, that Day risk throwing his knife at Metias’s shoulder did he manage to escape.  With June on Day’s trail, and Day on the trail to save his family, it is only when their trails cross did the plot get interesting.

Marie Lu took a very interesting concept and made it a reality by words.  I loved this book for the depth of the society she took. Not only do you know about what the trial is about, but what it determines per grade you get. You get to see the book both from Day’s and June’s point of view. What I did not like was when she switched between June and Day’s point-of-view she not only switched founts but colors, writing Day’s par it in gold. It was annoying at first, but eventually you got used to it.  The story line is beautiful as she takes a love-hate relationship to the next level. You realize not all criminal are bad, but not all leaders are good.