We were spared the humiliation of dealing with the aftermath of our receptions on the Report.

What humiliation?  Your reception went off without a hitch.  Also, HELLO, THE WORLD DOESN’T REVOLVE AROUND YOU, DID YOU EVER STOP TO CONSIDER THAT SOMETHING ELSE OF IMPORT MIGHT HAVE COME FROM ALL THAT POLITICING?

Apparently not, because the visits only got “a mention” on the news.

Then it’s on to the next day where they can talk about how things went in private.  Sometimes, I just don’t understand this book.  What’s the point of making this a “reality show” style set-up if performing for the cameras is systematically ignored and devalued?

Sylvia says they both did well, but of course, America’s group did better.  She acts all nervous before being told that and relieved afterward, but really?  This was somehow not obvious to her?  Oh, who are we kidding, of course it wasn’t.  This is the girl who continually forgets she’s in a competition.

Maxon and the king show up to announce that the war in “New Asia” (still don’t know where that is, btw) is “so dire” that they’re both leaving immediately in order to try and help.  Um…how?  What can they do from the front lines that they can’t do from the palace?

Now, obviously if they’re going to be in charge of war they need to know the situation, and it’s best to get as close as possible to get a clear view of the lay of things.  At the “commander in chief” level, any war effort you contribute is going to be on paper, but you can’t make command decisions purely off reported information without risking a serious error.  So I don’t contest them going at all.

What I take issue with is the “this is an emergency” and “both the king and his sole heir are going at the same time.”  What can they do to help a time-sensitive crisis that they can’t do just as well from where they are?  They can issue orders and make decisions from the palace; this world has telephones.  And if they both get whacked going into this emergency, then the line of succession is effectively at a dead end.  Unless there’s a cousin somewhere we haven’t heard about.

I guess the weirdest thing for is how out of the blue it all is.  We had some tepid attempts to portray Maxon as military-minded in the first book, but never for the king, and nothing so far in this book.  So for them both to show up and be like “I have to go handle this military matter” with no proof that they can, I’m left wondering “why don’t you pansy, party-throwing assholes let the generals handle it, m’kay?”

THIS IS WHY SHOWING IS IMPORTANT, PEOPLE.

“This situation is so dire that Father and I are leaving this very moment to see if we can do any good.”

“What’s wrong?” the queen asked, clutching her chest.

“It’s nothing to worry about, my love,” the king said confidently.

I didn’t edit that.  I didn’t take any lines out.  That’s seriously how it goes.  I guess the king thinks the queen is such an idiot that she’ll buy the whole ‘it’s a dire emergency but nothing to worry about’ line.

Maxon says goodbye to each of the girls, and of course we have to see Celeste throw herself at him with crocodile tears.  Because she has to be not only a bad person, but a bad actor, too.

Then I suddenly realized that I had no clue what Illea stood to lose if we lost this war.

It’s like this chapter is mocking itself.

“If you get me a phone, I will talk to my parents,” [Elise] promised.

It’s like this book is written in some alternate version of the 50s instead of the future.

I’d probably like it a lot more if the premise had been “it’s an alternate version of history and set in the 50s” instead of “it’s the future.”  That actually would have been mildly okay.

We need more alternate history settings.  They’re a ton of fun.  Can that be the next big thing to replace dystopia?  Someone get on that.

Oh, also, the book has been setting up Kriss as the new “serious competition.”  Maxon’s goodbye to her is especially “tender” sounding.  But we’re supposed to like Kriss, so either she’s not really a threat, or she’s Maxon’s intended bride after America chooses Aspen.  There’s just no tension when you already can guess the tropes at play.

America wracks her brain comparing his goodbye to her to his goodbye to Kriss.  Apparenly his relationship status is more important than the whole “heading off to war” thing, because she doesn’t spare any thoughts about that.

“America, before I go… […] I need you to know everything—”

And then the king calls him away, and Maxon never finishes that statement, even though he has enough time to stare quizzically at her Aspen’s-jacket-button bracelet.  So…I guess that “everything” wasn’t really important after all.

The queen leaves after the boys do, and America goes on about how the queen is “strong” for waiting until she gets to her room to break down in a crying mess.  Because in this book, women being strong doesn’t have anything to do with actions.  Nope, the strongest thing you can do is look pretty.

I know it does take a good deal of emotional fortitude to deal with that kind of attention, but would it kill the book to…I don’t know, mention that she’s only got a few minutes to cry before she has to go run the country in her husband’s absence, or something?  Can she please do something other than hold it together for a measly two minutes?  Because despite what some people think, that’s not actually the limit of a woman’s abilities.

The girls split up and America goes to her room to mope.  Lucy mentions she saw Aspen in her room that morning in his plainclothes, and he gave some weaksauce excuse about doing a security sweep.  Man, after that whole “sneak around at night to meet” thing earlier, you’d think he’d be better at keeping thins under wraps.  Now he’s just boldly walking into room?

Anyway, he was in there to leave a letter, and once her maids leave, America finds it.  It says:

Maxon is gone. This changes everything.

Uh, not really, dick.  She can still be executed/caned for being with you.

In fact, it’s not like Maxon was spending much time with her before he left, so really nothing has changed.