This one took me a while to get into, but I really liked it in the end! It's totally different from He's debut novel, which is pure historical fantasy. This one is straight up sci-fi (which I knew going in), but I can see some of the same themes running through both of her books.

Someone (ahem, hi Michelle) told me this was like Piranesi, which I was dreading, because I absolutely HATED that book. I can see some of the similarities, but thank god the writing style is completely different and Joan He doesn't hate her readers.

I somehow didn't predict the twist (I shouldn't be surprised because I never predict the twist), but I wasn't necessarily surprised by it. Which isn't a bad thing. I think it fit really well into the narrative of the story and the world that had been set up to that point.

I also really liked how Kasey and Cee's chapters were structured very differently. The different numbering for the chapters and 1st vs. 3rd person POV. It made it easy to keep track of the separate storylines as well as giving a different view of things: Kasey was more cut off from human emotions and nature and the 3rd person POV reflected that, while Cee was more internalized (mostly by necessity of her situation) and that was well reflected by the 1st person POV.

Overall a really solid sci-fi novel! I know He normally writes historical stuff (I still need to read Strike the Zither, which I'm super excited for), but I would be very interested to read any other sci-fi she writes as well.