What a phenomenal book! This story pulled me in from the start and kept my attention until the end. It’s thought-provoking, vivid, powerful, and emotive. I love a book that makes me feel all kinds of emotions; and this one certainly did that. I was so invested in the group of four students and the ending just gutted me. The last part of the book literally had me sobbing. I felt like the story was well written with deep dives into characters mixed with fast moving plot and high stakes...and all combined with some amazing descriptive writing. 

Some of the themes and issues explored: identity, friendship, found family, loyalty, trust, betrayal, colonialism, discrimination, racism, elitism, and a powerful portrayal of the effects and pain of systemic oppression 

I found the discussions of the art of translating languages fascinating. 

I took my time with this book, immersing myself in the story and its atmosphere. It had a slow progressive build that kept me reading. In my opinion, Kuang exhibited such masterful, brilliant writing in this compelling story. This has been the first book I’ve read by Kuang and I definitely want to read more by her! 

An example of the amazing writing:
“London was drab and grey; was exploding in colour; was a raucous din, bursting with life; was eerily quiet, haunted by ghosts and graveyards.” (p. 19)

I mean come on! Isn’t that amazing writing??!!!

I highly recommend listening to the audiobook along with reading in print for this one. The audiobook is phenomenal!