2.75 stars. I was SO excited to read this! I love anything in an academic setting, and the premise of this book was so intriguing, but it didn't resonate with me at all. First issue, the characters never came to life for me as they were all stilted and one-dimensional. Even the dialogue sounded wooden and not realistic. The exposition was incredibly slow and tedious, and the tone was, I don't know...pretentious? I wasn't drawn into the story the way I normally am, and it was almost a chore to get through the beginning. I found all of the parenthetical information to be incredibly distracting as well. I almost decided to DNF, but I had such high hopes for this one that I continued. I do agree that the premise of the book was a great one; original, even, and I enjoyed the last 50-75 pages. I appreciated the unique plot, but this one unfortunately was not a favorite.