Interesting.

I ofcourse have been fascinated with the premise of the book since I first read about it, so I knew what was coming towards the end of the first look. But it still was a thrill the way it's written. And the author does a great job with the build up too, creating this character of Alice who is both an unlikely person to be studying in this elite boarding school, but also finds it a necessary stepping stone if she wants to solve her family's financial struggles. I definitely resonated a lot with the way she reacted to her school system, exams, and marks because that was pretty much my experience growing up in India. I also loved that the author kept commonly used Mandarin words and phrases because it's natural to expect them in a book set in Beijing, and I was glad that I could understand them with my rudimentary knowledge I've gained from watching cdramas.

I'm definitely much more interested in the book now and I hope I get a copy, so that I can read it early.