This book had to grow on me; I also DNFed it in Lily's story because I was so bored, but am glad I stuck with it to get to Mei's POV at the end. I have come to realize that coming-of-age stories (at least contemporary ones) are just not for me, so it was painful for me to get through Lily's not at all exciting 20s - until a tiny twist was planted at the end of her POV which is all that kept me going.
I am a science nerd so I loved all the science bits (hence loving Mei's the scientist's) POV and also all the discussion and philosophical ideas about the progress of science and good and terrible ways it can be used. I also was enraptured by Mei's life story (but I also love HF so this was much more interesting than the 2000s).

This book felt like it had TOO much going on - trying to tackle so many topics and discussions that are all interesting and worthy, but only got surface level deep because there simply were too many directions.

If this had been just a book about Mei and her life and then seeing the consequences of her actions I would have loved it more.

Note: the audiobook is FANTASTIC! All 3 narrators are some of my favorites so I highly recommend going that route!