I really liked this book at its core, the themes of connection and manipulation and cultural conflicts and the motif of the inside-out house. (Also, linguistically, the six(!) Porphyrian genders are fascinating; from a social perspective, there’s something so satisfying about a culture that takes “How may I pronoun you?” as a simple matter-of-fact query.) The plot developments made sense and kept me interested — I do love roadtrip/travel stories, after all, and scavenger hunts of sorts. Even the ending was satisfying, including the resolution to the love triangle (which played only a minor role throughout the book and was wrapped up neatly and wonderfully).

Then again, I finished up my reading in the emotional wake of the season finale of a TV series that always manages to hit home (The 100, season 5, Damocles parts 1 & 2) so that’s probably affecting how I feel. Nevertheless, I did genuinely like this book in and of itself throughout its progression, so I don’t really mind too much if I’m feeling some overflow fondness.