The one thing I appreciated a lot about the book is the writing. It just flows so smoothly that I couldn't help but keep turning pages despite not being super invested in either the plot or the characters. I can't think of many lines that made me slow down and ponder them for a moment, but it also never became monotonous, and the pacing escalated steadily while maintaining stakes that, while being high enough, weren't *too* high. I fell like this is a very good style for a MG book.

Now, for the thing I loved even more, and honestly almost the whole reason for my rating: the worldbuilding! I absolutely adored this mixture of Korean myth and space opera tropes, and all the wonderful exciting aspects of this world, from space pirates to ghost planets. It's a setting I'd love to visit, to set a TTRPG campaign in, and to read more books about, though I wish they could be more mature stories. Simply because there are so many cool things here that I feel could be explored deeper if we weren't just seeing them through the MG lens. I'd really enjoy seeing this 'verse through the eyes of some adult characters. Meanwhile, daydreaming it is!

As for the plot and the characterization, I'm afraid that's where I felt let down. Perhaps part of it is just that I'm not much of an MG reader, but there were definitely some MG books I've enjoyed in the past that didn't feel so... shallow? The aspects of the plot that helped showcase the worldbuilding were kind of exciting, but only because I enjoyed the setting so much. And Min seemed, at the surface, like the kind of a character I would enjoy following: someone tricky and inventive, relying a lot on her shapeshifting ability, trying to figure out her identity while constantly stuck impersonating someone else. A lovable rogue of sorts. But alas, she thoroughly lacked the "lovable" part for me. Despite being sometimes praised for her wit, she mostly got ahead on sheer luck and coincidence, and for someone whose arc was supposedly focused on figuring herself out, there was next to no self-reflection.