For the most part, I really liked Captive. It was a really good second book in a series and actually felt important (unlike most second books). We had an intense story about Elsewhere, which was really cool to read about! Plus there were more secrets, conspiracies, and betrayals! Who doesn't love those? ;)
The one thing I didn't really like about Captive was Kitty. God that girl could be stupid/annoying. Her decisions were just so... WTF!?!? The book was riddled with scenes like this:
Sensible Person #1: "Kitty, promise me you won't do x tonight, okay? It's not safe and it's a bad idea and it could get us all killed."
Kitty: "Okay, I promise."
[1.5 pages later]
Kitty (to herself): "Well, I'm off to go to x because it's extremely important and I can do it right!"
[3 pages later]
*whole thing blows up in Kitty's face... as predicted by Sensible Person #1*
SO MANY TIMES!! It actually made me agree with Knox when he said this:
"I'm more than just a III, and you know it."
"Are you?" He stopped suddenly, and I nearly ran into him. "Because sometimes I'm not so sure, Kitty."
Here's a real example:
"Kitty, I need you to promise me you won't try to find those codes tonight. If you're caught—"
"There's nothing you can do or say that will save me from the Mercers. I know. [...] Fine. I promise.
[1 page later]
Scotia and Knox had had their chance to get the codes. Now it was my turn.
If she wants to be the brave hero, whatevs. BUT STOP LYING TO EVERYONE ABOUT IT!!! Stop making all these promises, just to break them 5 minutes later. It just got so annoying.
Honestly, it's hard for me to NOT talk about how annoying Kitty was, but I need to try. Because beyond her annoyingness, Captive was in fact a really good book. Some of the stuff in Elsewhere was CRAZY INTENSE AND SCARY! Like a bunch of people died, there's all this craziness with HUMAN FREAKING HEARTS, and cages where people fight to the death. Ohmyword. It made me want to become some kind of rebel leader.
Then, at the end, some intense stuff gets revealed, but I liked how it wasn't too much of a cliffhanger. It was more like a mini cliffhanger—enough to get me excited about the third book, but not enough to make me really pissed off that I have to wait so long. Perfect balance, my friends.