This chapter has spoilers if you don't want to read any see the previous chapter as that has no spoilers at all.

Alright spoiler time. The great thing about this book is that there is no real happy ending. Lets just give the second half the plot away first:

Luke meets Jen and learns why everything is the way it is and why it is wrong. He also meets a few other children on the computer a thing he never got to use before. After talking to Jen he ends up finding out about a protest she is going to at the capital building. Luke refuses to go as he is terrified at the thought of being outside where the population police would find him. Jen goes anyway after talking to Luke at his house. Later Luke panics after not seeing Jen for a month after the protest so he brakes into her house and onto her computer to contact the other children to find out where she was to no avail. Jens father shows up and tells Luke that everyone including Jen was shot dead by the population police. The population police show up, Luke hides, and Jens father convinces the police to leave them alone. Luke is then offered an Id card to hid in plain sight, an offer he takes with some hesitance. The book ends with Luke taking on the identity of Lee Grant a young wealthy boy who died in a skying accident.

1. Jen is a child of the elite, of the Barons. While she has feared being caught she is clearly a spoiled child and has little regard for the real fear other children face. For example Luke talks about how almost everything is forbidden in his house and she just tells him to disobey. She is unlikable in all the right ways. She is a spoiled child who shows that just going throwing money is not going to fix a systemic problem. While she is impulsive and a rude at times she still cares and wants things to be better.

2. Jens idea of storming the capital building is viewed by Luke and all of Jens friends on the Internet as a bad idea. Thought to be fair most of the Internet friends change there minds. Jen boast about how there would be thousands only for there to be only 40. Her father says that the government would most likely have shot anyone even if it was 10,000 people. Her idea is viewed as optimistic but wrong by Luke and he is shown he is right at the end.

3. Luke lives in fear and isolation for half of the book. We feel his struggle because we see it play out. All the freedom he once had is stripped away further and further till nothing is left. The feeling of isolation and fear is great. Adding to this we only see a hand full of characters all of them being:

1. Luke

2. Luke's dad

3. Luke's mom

4. Mathew (Luke's brother)

5. Mark (Luke's other brother)

6. Jen

7. Jens father

I'm not counting her Internet friends as well because they are only seen for one small scene. We only have a grand total of 7 characters and most of them are rarely seen after the first half of the book. We hear about other character but Luke only interacts with the other 6 adding to the isolation. The book leaves us off with a foreboding feeling that just lingers there.

4. Luke himself never really changes that much from the start of the book. His fear stays and he never gets over the fear of the population police. However we see him go from being afraid of being outside to walking out to become someone else. Luke vows to help all shadow children like himself and tries his best to fix things and for a story about a child that feel extremely realistic.

In conclusion while the book is fiction it goes beyond the stereotypical dystopian novel. No where is there a mention of him being chosen for any particular talent he has. We see the leader of a rebellion but we see how they were killed. We see the true rebellion after and that is what make the book so good. It's about the small victories like Luke getting his id. The book series is amazing and the rest of the book are like this too.