If you're 13 and living in Quill, then it's time for you to be sorted. Wanteds will go off to university and possibly gain some power through the government and military. Necessaries go off to work for Quill perhaps in the dairy or the fields. Unwanteds are sent to the Great Lake of Boiling Oil to die. At least that's what everybody in Quill thinks.Alex is 13, and he's known since he was 10 that he would be one of the Unwanteds. His parents and twin brother Aaron were never shy about letting him know his shortcomings. He gets on the bus with the other Unwanteds, and that's the last thing that happens as he expected. From that point, he learns a lot about himself, family, friendship, emotions, art, and magic. Much of the book's action focuses on Alex and three of his fellow Unwanteds. Alex was the most fleshed out for me, and I could really empathize with his loneliness and his desire to convince his Wanted twin Aaron to come be with him. I didn't always understand why he thought Aaron would be better off with him because the life of a Wanted in Quill was all that Aaron had wanted, but I understood wanting to think the best of his twin. Lani, one of Alex's friends, was well-done in her annoying habits. Perhaps it was because we spend so much time in Alex's head, but I spent most of the book wanting to smack her and the other two kids in the group. They seemed so self-centered, but looking back, I think that worked really well for helping us see how isolated Alex feels and why he clings so much to this idea of his twin brother being with him.There are so many characters who are put in the spotlight for just a bit so we can learn something interesting about them, and then they're quiet again. I hope that we'll see more of them in the future books of the series. I'll definitely pick them up after enjoying this quick magical read.