In the end, surely we are blessed. The royal and low, the queen and the singer. Surely we are blessed.

This book was legitimately phenomenal, beginning to end. Very few times in my life have I said to myself "I wish this was longer," but I legitimately wish this book was two times longer than it was. I'd read like a multi-generational epic saga à la Homegoing about this world, I totally would. I wish it was Middlemarch length. But GODDD. It's really spectacular. Holy fuggggg. I want to lend this book to my friends but I never want to let go of my copy.

I did not find the ending dissatisfying, which I was anticipating because so many people said they felt that way.

Its staggering, abrupt end is kind of the point, so much hype and adrenaline and roaring and cheering leads up to moment in which a life and all its glory is gone in a second.

This book pulls you in to such a degree that it feels like you are a voyeur to the spectacle of the games themselves; I suspect this general dissatisfaction with the ending is a byproduct of being situated in this way. There is no grandeur here. There is no right time or way to die. Life is not precious here.

Phenomenal character and world-building. This book is seriously unlike any other, a classic in the making. I hope everyone who can stomach to read something so terrifying and raw does. And if you don't think you can, try anyway.