This book deserves every bit of hype that it has gotten.
To start off, Wang's writing is so poetic and detailed, it left me in awe in the very first chapter. She had a way of making me feel for these characters that I didn't even know yet as I watched them all die, in the first chapter! The imagery was beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time in that chapter and it just kept on going from there. The world building was also fascinating. The magic system was set up almost like a computer animation programming system which was so interesting and inventive. I loved learning more about it as I read. 
The character arc that Sciona goes through is phenomenal honestly. She starts the book of completely driven and focused on one thing to the point that she ignores everything else including her family and even her own self - her emotions as well as her well-being. But as she gets closer to Thomil, she develops more empathy for those around her and starts paying attention to the structures her society has in place and how they affect people who are different from them and that changes how she sees everything. Her arc is just perfect. 
I also really loved the book ends and full-circle feel we had at the end.

At the beginning we had Thomil and his tribe running toward Tiran under a barrage of blight killing them. It was chaotic, tense, and heartbreaking, but Thomil and Kara made it so there was a little bit of hope there too. And at the end we have a very similar scene where Thomil and Kara are running with their tribe, but this time they are running away from Tiran and the guards that are trying to stop them and it's still chaotic, but it's much more hopeful as you wish for them to be able to start a new life without the plague of blight and all the harm the Tiranish had caused.

It was really poignant and beautiful to have those two scenes match and book end the story.
In short, Wang's writing and storyline kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time and I loved every minute of it.