I really enjoyed this book! I felt like it really delivered on being a grounded, well-paced YA fantasy romance, with a more detailed, less-quipy writing style than a lot of YA (which I liked). Maybe it's just because I haven't read a ton of sci-fi (yet), but I really enjoyed learning about the differences between the humans and the Automa, and how that played into each character. It was both especially fun to see these differences in things like Crier freaking Ayla out by not remembering to breathe or blink, but also the way Crier found the lack of shine in Ayla's eyes freaky--it felt like a good examination of their unique perspectives. I felt like the plot and the mystery were both very-well paced as well! I was genuinely invested in uncovering the mystery and got a sense of danger from the plots happening around the protagonists, and the main villain being very recognizable early on didn't detract from this for me, since the other elements of the mystery were strong. The book as a whole felt very grounded in this world and these characters, especially through the use of "historical documents" from the world itself that revealed useful context and felt very natural to the story. In terms of Ayla and Crier's relationship, I found the pacing to be pretty solid (maybe just in comparison to some other sapphic YA books I've been reading lately) and was certainly rooting for them, but I do also feel like there could've been a little bit more development between them to really strengthen this aspect. Still, this wasn't a huge issue for me, perhaps in part because I knew there would be more room for this development in the second book in the series. Overall, I really enjoyed this book as a lighter read, and am looking forward to reading the sequel!