Certainly some unexpected twists in this one which kind of saved this book. I found the strong female main character to suddenly be...well, kind of weak, missing her grit, and downright annoying compared to the first book, which was really disappointing. Even though there were parts that were hard to get through, (aka boring), the massive twist at the end hooked me and I made me want to read the next book in the series.

I was delighted to jump back into the world Suvada started in This Mortal Coil. This Cruel Design has the difficult task that many adventurous sci-fi sequels do of bridging a debut novel to a raucous, satisfying finale. That said, it continued Suvada's breakneck, cliffhanger-heavy style that I loved so much in her first novel, and I'm intrigued with the world-building that TCD accomplished. The new characters that are introduced are engaging and further challenge Cat and complicate the world that she, her friends and even perhaps her enemies all want to save--if they can agree on how not to destroy it in the process. I can't wait for the last novel in this trilogy!