I picked this up for a book club, and whilst it isn't a book I would typically read I had a somewhat enjoyable time with it. I liked M.L. Wang's writing style as well as the world building, although some parts were heavy on infodumping. I think the main issue I had was I didn't vibe with the main character Sciona at all so it was difficult to follow and understand her actions. There were few characters I ended up liking but my favourite was certainly Carra. 
What boosted my rating from the 2.5 I would've given this book was definitely the ending, which gave the book a good pay off and wrapped up this as a good standalone novel. 
I know this is release has been very popular and highly rated but I just found it to be somewhat basic and lacking creativity, so it wasn't a new favourite sadly but I'm glad I gave it a go and it will make for a good book club discussion.
3 stars