This was a completely new take on an intergalactic world and I hope it wins an award so it'll become more popular.This book does a couple key things differently than most series do, which may have made it less popular, but have also made it unique:World-building: This book does not give pages and chapters of world-building and character building. Stover basically throws you into and the world and says "figure it out". This made the first 50 pages seem terribly confusing, but after a while the book made sense and you feel a sense of accomplishment as a reader for figuring it out and not having the author spoon-feed you a story.Its still pretty strange to not have the world, the war, or really anything explained because its so unlike the other series popular today. Dune spends forever setting up the world, so does the Wheel of Time series, Game of Thrones, etc. In this book we do not receive a narrator's view, multiple viewpoints or overall view. We are left to what each particular main character knows, which really isn't all that much. The big picture is left on the way side. There is so much to learn and so much going on, that as a reader you don't feel cheated. Instead you have a front seat show to an intergalactic adventure in a brand new sci-fi universe filled its own unique details, military and planets as you follow an elite military unit.Characters: Its pretty obvious from the beginning that Stover knows how the military works. She uses their lingo, does a great job of demonstrating their training and loyalty, and makes this the real focus of the book. Politics and individual character goals are not really explained. These characters are Soldiers who literally eat, sleep and train in a continuous rotation. This is probably my favorite aspect of the book. SO MANY young adult novels try to tell the reader how experienced and elite their forces are, but can't demonstrate it either because the author doesn't have the knowledge or experience to do so. Stover does. Her soldiers train everyday, have a specific diet, and know their gear down to the nanoparticle because they have to trust their lives with it. YA authors could take a lesson from Stover. Just saying your character is elite isn't enough. They need to train often and in difficult settings. You can't just take months off or have your love interest get in the way. There is a certain caliber that are elite and it takes actual work and dedication to get there. You can't be deadly when you sit around eating and moaning about your love interest all day every day (hint: Rebel Queen , [red book:A Court of Thorns and Roses|16096824], The Bone Season Throne of Glass okay I think I've made my point.)Even with the confusion, there was a thrilling undercurrent to this book. So many questions are not answered and mysteries that are left unsolved that I wanted to read more! I hope the next book widens the amount of characters and views the reader sees of this world.