This book was so unique! I loved the setting (an elite international school in Beijing) and how it provided a look at identity and socioeconomic status in a context different from most YA books.
Henry was such a great love interest; he reminded me of Gansey from The Raven Cycle in the best way. I didn’t love Alice as much, but I think that was the point. I could sympathize with her and her family’s situation and understood why she did do the things she did, but it was hard to root for her for most of the book. I did enjoy the academic rivals-to-lovers romance though!
As for the plot, I really did not expect the story to go the way it did. I feel like it was a really big (and random) jump for her to go from wow I can turn invisible to I’m going to blackmail people and monetize it so I can pay for school. Like, where/how did this idea strike her? I wish we’d seen her come to this conclusion on the page in real time, but instead, the first time we hear about it is when she is proposing the partnership to Henry. It just felt out of nowhere and out of character (not that we knew much about her yet at that point) and I think that plot point could’ve been built up better (for example, she’s been trying for weeks to figure out how to make money, and when she starts turning invisible, she accidentally does something for someone who offers to pay her, and that then inspires her to find other ways to monetize her power). For what the story ended up being, I think the pacing was good and the stakes escalated very nicely, but I just wasn’t in love with how we jumped to the premise in the first place.
Also, while I loved the magical realism aspect of the invisibility and how it was unpredictable and never fully explained, the ability did often feel like a device to keep the plot moving. We don’t really see Alice struggling with the power, and it conveniently happens almost whenever she needs it (at least on page) and lasts a convenient amount of time. I don’t think we needed an explanation of the power, but I wish there’d been some more rules at play to make it less of a plot device.
Henry was such a great love interest; he reminded me of Gansey from The Raven Cycle in the best way. I didn’t love Alice as much, but I think that was the point. I could sympathize with her and her family’s situation and understood why she did do the things she did, but it was hard to root for her for most of the book. I did enjoy the academic rivals-to-lovers romance though!
As for the plot, I really did not expect the story to go the way it did. I feel like it was a really big (and random) jump for her to go from wow I can turn invisible to I’m going to blackmail people and monetize it so I can pay for school. Like, where/how did this idea strike her? I wish we’d seen her come to this conclusion on the page in real time, but instead, the first time we hear about it is when she is proposing the partnership to Henry. It just felt out of nowhere and out of character (not that we knew much about her yet at that point) and I think that plot point could’ve been built up better (for example, she’s been trying for weeks to figure out how to make money, and when she starts turning invisible, she accidentally does something for someone who offers to pay her, and that then inspires her to find other ways to monetize her power). For what the story ended up being, I think the pacing was good and the stakes escalated very nicely, but I just wasn’t in love with how we jumped to the premise in the first place.
Also, while I loved the magical realism aspect of the invisibility and how it was unpredictable and never fully explained, the ability did often feel like a device to keep the plot moving. We don’t really see Alice struggling with the power, and it conveniently happens almost whenever she needs it (at least on page) and lasts a convenient amount of time. I don’t think we needed an explanation of the power, but I wish there’d been some more rules at play to make it less of a plot device.