Overall rating: 3.5 stars

Kuang’s writing is sharp and engaging, and her storytelling definitely leaves us questioning about issues surrounding race, the publishing industry, and media in general. There’s something absolutely skin crawling about the way our conniving narrator is able to justify and reason her way through her actions, but the initial appeal of the novel soon wears off as the story stretches on for a bit too long. Maybe I just have a low tolerance for the narrator’s ramblings.