I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. I’ll admit to a little trepidation when I first started because I was coming off a ya novel that I spent most of my reading being increasingly irritated at the main characters and this was very much the opposite. 
First of all, they got to be smart. Despite their age, they got to be clever and ruthless and take risks even as they took them seriously. 
Also Khanani was careful to explain her heroine’s choices in a way that made them make complete sense. I went back on some of my earlier assumptions about Rae because of how carefully Khanani walked us through her thought processes later and that doesn’t usually happen. 
The other thing I was fascinated by in this book is Rae’s attitude towards violence. The thesis of this book is that those who exploit others deserve what is coming to them and I was impressed at how little time was spent…having feelings about it.  The book’s willingness to go hard on “thieves justice is better than no justice even if it’s crueler than the law” was really refreshing. I’m not sure I agree with it, but I liked that the book never tried to have it both ways by taking agency away from Rae. 
I also really appreciated Rae’s growth into her disabled body in a way that felt both real and important.