This book was super cool! I went in completely blind and really enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot. The book really doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the inclusion of detailed physics, computer science and math, but I honestly mostly enjoyed all that as a massive science nerd. The overall premise was awesome, and I mostly enjoyed how the mysteries were resolved by the end. It definitely gets wacky at times with some weird science and even weirder ways of presenting it, but I honestly really enjoyed that.

One of the most interesting l aspects of the book to me was the interplay of the science with the background of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. I didn’t have very much knowledge of the Cultural Revolution going into this book as an American, so its fairly important role as the backdrop for the story was new to me. In particular, the way that the Revolution affected academia/intellectuallism in China, and by extension shaped many of the characters, was something I was always surprised and interested to see.

The characters and pacing are definitely the weak points of this book. Most of the characters are relatively unchanging throughout the book and really aren’t all that interesting. Ye Wenjie is the only character I had any real interest in, her story was fascinating. The pacing also isn’t amazing. The beginning is kind of a slow burn, slowly introducing the mysteries of this world, but it felt too slow at times. The last third of the book really speeds up with a lot of revelations, then it slows down to a crawl right before the end, then actually ending with a very heartfelt couple chapters in the last 20ish pages.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It definitely has its strengths and weaknesses, but as a huge science nerd I’m really excited to read the rest of the trilogy.