I finished this book a few days ago and I am now struggling to know what to write about it which I think really sums up my feelings about the book. While I enjoyed it enough while it lasted I can't see that it is a title I'll go back to.
It is a epic dystopian novel yet for all its epicness I wasn't really convinced about the story as a whole and the small details were lacking for me. In trying to have this huge overarching story I felt little things like character development and relationships weren't focused on enough meaning I really didn't care.
The main character in this book is someone you are supposed to feel sorry for. She has had this tough life and is still continuing to suffer but yet again I didn't really feel like I got under her skin enough to understand her or really feel for her. Equally the relationship she had with Jeremy I really didn't get.
There were loads of interesting ideas thrown up throughout this book especially around religion and false prophets. You can see whilst reading that the author certainly has lots of grand ideas for the series which could be played out but I am in two mind whether I want to go through at least another two books to find out more.
I definitely agree with your first point-I need to write my review of this and I am struggling because I liked the book while reading but it didn't really click with me. I loved the cult stuff (that was what I was most excited about) but I remain ambivalent about Mia and not at all interested in her romance.
Interesting review, I really, really like the idea of this one but think I'm going to need to hold fire on buying it for now.
Oh dear- I've got this on order and still really want to read it, but maybe I won't set my expectations too high.