Catalyst by S.J. Kincaid

TL;DR what happens when you make Ben Tennyson the protagonist of Ender's Game and add in capitalism to the extreme

(finished 1/30/15)

Okay, so that description is kind of a description of the series as a whole. It was how I described it to my friend today at lunch. Catalyst is the final book in the Insignia series, and let me tell you, it is a finale. 

Catalyst is essentially just one huge climax. The entire book. It's great. The plot gets going immediately and doesn't stop. I guess your take on that really depends on if you like non-stop plot or if you like lulls -- because there are definitely few to no lulls. 

I have to add in huge content warnings for mental abuse and systematic brainwashing towards the middle of the book. I'm going to leave it at that to avoid spoilers, but if that kind of stuff squicks you out, you might want to avoid the book. It dramatically affects everything that comes after it. I think it's handled pretty well afterwards in terms of how everyone reacts and helps the character recover, but I have no real knowledge or experience in this regard, so I would suggest using your own gut feeling. 

Something I actually really loved in Catalyst was the romance, believe it or not. Romance has always supported the plot over the series, and I'm really glad that there were never really any parts where it totally overtook the plot. I mean, Tom and Medusa do some pretty stupid stuff to each other, which occasionally fuels the plot, but it all seemed really realistic and was never overbearing. I really loved that it had more slow-burn romances instead of romances occurring over the course of a single book -- they build up slowly, so it's definitely not insta-love, and that's awesome. We need more books like this. 

There's honestly not much I can really say without spoiling the entire series, but if you haven't read Insignia yet, and dystopian-like sci-fi is your thing, go for it! I'm reluctant to call it a full-blown dystopian because of how overused (and wrongly used) the term is, but it's definitely a scary world that's possible, which I think makes it all the more worse. I think that you would really like the series if you liked Legend; that's the first book that comes to mind after Ender's Game. Both have to do a lot with the military / government, and I think I liked the Insignia series so much more because it was set in and around DC. Books are a lot more interesting when they're on your home turf. 

Review TL;DR please at least try reading the Insignia series. It's really good.