It’s one of my favorite sci-fi series. First book is rough in places and a bit too married to the “dystopian YA” formula (though with enough unique aspects to have kept me interested), but the series hits its stride in the second book and from there it’s (at least in my view) consistently quite good. It’s got tense and thrilling battles, political intrigue, a well-realized setting, and dialogue that makes me laugh out loud (in a good way) even on rereads. The story is fairly dark and a lot of bad things happen, but it doesn’t descend into misery porn.

Regarding the politics, it’s about an uprising against a sci-fi society of genetically engineered castes. The rebels have their faults but are consistently portrayed as preferable to the caste system status quo, and while it’s not quite socialist, the concept gets discussed, and the most prominent socialist character is admirable and sympathetic. Revolution is shown to be messy and complicated, involving enormous hardships and sacrifice, but ultimately worthwhile, and the story doesn’t waste time handwringing about the rebels killing their monstrously evil oppressors.