Cookie-cutter YA urban fantasy, adequately written. The fact that it centers a non-white, non-male perspective adds quite a bit of charm, but in the end not enough to redeem it from mediocrity.

I feel bad not giving it more stars because it incorporates a ton of great political commentary (on topics like cultural appropriation, gentrification, street harassment, police brutality, toxic masculinity... there's even a teen lesbian couple) in a way that feels very genuine and unforced. And the world and premise are very unique! While the ideas are there, the level of sophistication needed to pull it all together is not. I was actually expecting to learn it was Older's first novel.

I'm glad it got published, I hope plenty of impressionable kids read it, and I will say that for $2 I got my money's worth.