Thank you to William Morrow (via NetGalley) for the ARC!

Quick summary! June Hayward and Athena Liu are frenemies and have been since college. Athena, daughter of Chinese immigrants, has been wildly successful in publishing, since her early 20's. June, who is white, has not. Her debut flopped and she hasn't published anything since. Fast forward a few years. Athena and June keep in touch, but still aren't close. June happens to be there when Athena dies in a freak accident and happens to see a just-finished manuscript (that no one else knows about) on Athena's desk. So of course, June takes it. And passes it off on her own. And so begins June's success story. Except now, she can't escape Athena's shadow (dun dun dun).

Whew, this book was a wild ride! First off, I don't think I've ever hated a protagonist more while simultaneously enjoying a book so much, so hats off to the author for that.

June Hayward (or Juniper Song, if we must) is the most infuriating character, right of the bat. I hated her entirely by the end of the first chapter. She is selfish, lazy, and so NOT self-aware that it's almost painful. She is also an expert at playing the victim. I really really thought at one point that she might have a tiny moment of redemption or self-reflection, but no. All the way until the bitter end June holds on to the completely incorrect idea that she has been the victim in this entire mess that she created. And it made me hate her so much more!

June is almost a caricature of the unaware, privileged white woman who calls herself a liberal but, when it comes down to it, she really doesn't like anything that makes her uncomfortable or causes her to examine her life in any meaningful way. She thinks she's a feminist, but she only is in relation to white men. Intersectional feminism? Never heard of her! Racism (and June's potential to be racist) doesn't even factor into her version of feminism, which is ironic since that is what causes this whole mess to begin with!

The first half of the book is a sharp critique of the publishing industry (through June's utterly oblivious eyes) and a discussion of who is allowed to write what (i.e. should a white person be telling the stories of Chinese laborers, in this particular case), which is always a hot topic in publishing. That doesn't even being to address the problems of June stealing Athena's manuscript before her body is cold, but at this point June has already convinced herself that she hasn't done anything wrong and is doing the world a favor by giving them Athena's last work, heavily edited by herself.

The second half is where I think the book may lose some people. It turns into, basically, a play-by-play of every single Twitter argument I've seen happen on book twitter in the few years I've been in that community. They're always heated, passionate, and they are ALWAYS a mess. And they never, ever solve anything. I tend to stay on the sidelines because Twitter arguments can get ugly, fast. And they are cyclical. It's the same fight every few months about the same topics. Sometimes with the same people. It gets tiring and very predictable. And Kuang manages to capture this environment perfectly when June is accused of stealing Athena Liu's work. And because Twitter must debate everything to death, Athena herself gets posthumously pulled into the fray, her merit and memory pulled to shreds by trolls and fans alike. While this part of the book was frighteningly accurate, I can see how it could turn readers off. If you're not tuned into book twitter, this part could get really annoying really quickly. And it could be a bit repetitive, especially with how June physically can't pull herself away from the negativity, to the point where it becomes unhealthy for her (it was only at this point in the book where I felt a very tiny bit of sympathy for her). Honestly, this is mainly why I didn't give the book 5 stars. The Twitter subplot (and I hesitate to call it a subplot because it takes up so much of the second half of the book) is VERY niche and could also be something that prevents the book from aging well, because it seems to be very "of the moment."

There is a bit of a twist, although I hesitate to call it that because I saw it coming a million miles away (and that's saying something because I NEVER predict plot twists). It was definitely set up as a twist for June because she was shocked, but any reader who pays just the smallest bit of attention will see the seeds planted for this throughout the entire book. If you don't, you may be more like June than you care to admit, so have a little think about that.

Overall I think this was a solid, enjoyable book. It was fast-paced and I definitely had a good time cackling at all of June's self-created misfortunes. I do also think that this will be Kuang's most divisive book among her already-established fanbase because it is absolutely nothing like any of the books she's written before. I personally love authors who genre-hop, but I know there are many readers who don't.

Take my rambling review how you will, but I will wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone.