This book is by no means a masterpiece but what it was was really very enjoyable. This was my first introduction to this world and I have to say I really liked it and I really liked how it was done. I feel like I know (and like) the world but there at no point was a mass info-dumping, instead we mostly learn about the quasing the way Ella does, through her dreams. I really liked this gradual way of learning about the history of the quasing, and Io's part in it. 
 I feel like, with a lot of books that are the first in the series, they could quite easily be a standalone and I would prefer them as a standalone, but this is meant to be the first in the series. We're really not done yet, I want more time with the characters - I feel like I only really know Ella and Io, and Shura I guess but we're reminded at the end how little of her backstory we really know, how much she's keeping secret from even the reader. I want the next one, basically, and am very eager to go and read all of Wesley Chu's other books set in this world - I particularly liked Tao and very much look forward to spending more time with him. 
 I also really liked both Ella and Io, though I do get the Io is crazy annoying. (view spoiler)[ I must say that I did not see the plot twist coming at all, Ella figured out before I did and I was just, like, 'wait, what???' I think I just really wanted to like Io and this just didn't feel right. (hide spoiler)] I am looking forward to Io's character continuing to develop in the later books. 
 Also it was really cool to read a sci fi novel set in a country on earth that wasn't America or Britain. 
 Nooooooow we have the bad points. Although I did really like this book, the characters and the world, I did find the writing a bit clunky at times, kind of like it wasn't the final draft which I suppose maybe it will have some more polish before it's published? I did read an ARC to be fair and I don't really know anything about how these things work. 
 (view spoiler)[ My only other real criticism is about the ending. Logically, it did have all the components of a good ending and set-up for the next book but somehow it just felt a little flat. I couldn't really say why though (hide spoiler)]