Dread Nation

This book was great. I loved the premise and Jane McKeene. She's smart and fierce and I loved being in her head. Except for the romance, which felt kind of pointless as there was zero chemistry between the two, I loved Jane's relationships, especially with the ones with Katherine and her mom, even if the latter was explored mostly by letters. The plot was a little slow going at time, but I was still engaged until the end.

On a more serious note, the book is centered around the experience of discrimination and oppression and while I did find a lot of value in the message, I felt it was incomplete. The focus was only on African Americans' experience and very little about Native Americans'. Her inspiration for the Combat School were the Native Residential Schools which were “boarding schools” where Native children, after being separated from their families, were abused and forcefully stripped of their culture and heritage. This horrendous part of history was swept under the rug and I doubt many people are aware of it. The consequences of these practices are still affecting Native communities today. What happened to them is just as bad and I think it's important to acknowledge that.

Aside from that, great premise, great characters (with few exceptions) and great mystery.