I really wanted to love this book, but I felt like the world building and the character building fell fairly flat. 

The world building was interesting at the start. There are multiple planets introduced and an interesting hierarchy of wards, and the complexes and towers were very cool to start, where our main character would traverse to and from their family complex. We continue to see a bit of the technology and how elements of Earth come into play with this futuristic society. However, as we got into the plot, much of that world building was forgotten and it became very plain. The places that characters would meet would be generic, we lost some of the wonder that the MC feels when she is exploring, and it became a little bit more mundane despite the high stakes heist.

One thing I did love about the world building was the inclusion of Hawaiian Pigin. It gave a greater sense of family and community as it continuously appeared through the story. It was also cool to see some code switching depending on who our characters were speaking with. This was a big part of why I continued and enjoyed this book. 

In terms of character development, I feel like we only skim the surface with a lot of the characters. I think the author expected us to be more invested in the characters based on how the story ended, but I feel like I never really got to know anyone well enough or deeply enough through Edie's eyes to truly feel like this was a found family. The depth just wasn't there for me, especially with Edie's relationship with Angel. Although they have 20 years of history, I didn't feel like the relationship ran deep. This was also affected by some formulaic writing, where each character had a small moment when things were getting set up but it never felt organic. Thisbwas most noticeable whenever they were in the hideout. Something would get set up and it'd be like, "I sat here, Malia was there. Duke and Nakano approached. Sara showed interest, Cy pulled up a chair, and Tatiana scowled. Angel walked in." I didn't need a roll call every time something happened, or every time something needed to be agreed upon by the crew. It felt like wasted words and it felt more stilted as a result.

Lastly, the pacing of the plot was odd. Back to the roll call aspect, we spend the first 50% of the book with Edie and Angel bringing together the crew. In movies, this can feel exciting, but it's often helped along by montage. We didn't get that here, and instead we slog through each meeting and don't get the reveal of the actual plan until they're executing it at around the 80% point. The book was slow because of this choice.

I wanted to love this book so badly, but it really missed the mark the for me. Just a little too clunky and not enough depth for my liking.

Rep: Hawaiian agender butch lesbian MC, East-Asian lesbian LI, Hawaiian transmasc side character, transfem femme lesbian secondary character, butch lesbian secondary character

TW: incarceration, attempted drugging; mentions violence, sexual content, alcohol, human experiments, death of a parent, blackmail

Plot: 3/5
Characters: 3.5/5
World Building: 3/5
Writing: 3.5/5
Pacing: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

eARC gifted via Edelweiss by Harper Voyager via Harper Collins in exchange for an honest review.