I'm not a particularly politically savvy person so, especially in the policy info dump chapters, I found myself needing to do side research to understand what was going on and even then, I didn't always get it and had to look up chapter summaries for the book. I didn't particularly enjoy the writing or Doremus as a main character and I agree that Lorinda would have made a better MC. I did like that there were significant (given when this was written) parts played by women. Mary was amazing and Sissy, although she wasn't a great spy, was brave in trying to help the underground as best as she could, especially given her age. And Lorinda, of course. I would have liked to have known what she was up to when she moved after and I appreciate her stepping away from Doremus to focus on the rebellion. I also agree that the affair seemed unnecessary, but I think maybe it was in there to make our "hero" more morally grey. So there was no wholey virtuous party that should become the victor. I also appreciate that the rebellion was still in progress at the end of the book. It's not a simple and quick problem to fix. The topic is highly relevant and it's scary all of the political and behavioral analogies I see with the current American situation.