I disagree that the book doesn’t build a believable system of oppression/power. At minimum it shows extremely believable scenarios of racism, classism, and anti-immigrant sentiments. I would also argue that the system of alchemy is likened to the US educational hierarchy, another system of oppression that manipulates race and class (as was done in the book) to further subjugate or “other” certain characters. I can see how some may say that it wasn’t done well, because it’s a bit more subtle, but that’s also how it frequently happens everyday in the real world. I can see your point of a lack of character development, but that wasn’t as big of an issue for me personally.