The good: the detailed descriptions of oppressed life in North Korea, and the way it could affect people. There is a wealth of side characters, and they are quite well developed, the North Koreans more so than the Americans.

The so-so: the plot. It wavers between engrossing and clever on the one hand, and over-the-top Hollywood-style insult to intelligence on the other. I can't divulge the ending for obvious reasons, but it is so ridiculous that the rating lost a full star.

The bad: it's mentioned abundantly in other reviews, but the style is cumbersome, cliched. And the one character that doesn't cut it at all happens to be the protagonist. How long can you be so desperately mourning over a lost sister that you'd rather risk WW3 than come to terms with your loss?