I was very excited to read this book as it sounded right up my street, but I couldn't get on board with the way that Robert Muchamore writes about women. The descriptions seem completely sexist and gratuitous, focused on appearance and often in a derogatory way, and that really pulled away from the story for me. In this day and age it is simply unacceptable to not be able to write complex and interesting female characters and to also be so disgustingly focused on appearance. I don't understand how things like this get through the editing process, though I imagine it doesn't help that Robert Muchamore is such an established name by now that whatever he writes is probably guaranteed to be published. Unfortunately that doesn't mean it's guaranteed to be worth publishing.