This is one of the best novels I’ve read this year. I absolutely loved everything about it—from the mix of realism and fiction, the disparate stories of the three main characters, and all the wild little plots working in the background. In the past, I’ve been mostly disappointed by fiction I’ve read about North Korea, and it was so wonderful to finally find a book that was not only intensely readable (at some points I had to force myself to put it down), but very well written. I’m not usually a fan of books that switch perspectives, but I found I really liked the three main characters here. While they each represented certain a class, they were by no means caricatures. They each had such well-constructed worlds around them and I loved taking in all the details. I also really liked how this author set the story in the recent past; it was surprising and exciting for me to be able to recognize certain real-world characters and events. (Even more exciting when I assumed certain things were complete fiction only to look them up and realize they were actually real!) As for the liberties the author took with certain facts, I think they panned out rather well, and didn’t take away from the story for me. I am really looking forward to reading this author’s other work. If he chooses to write a sequel to Star of the North (which it looks like he is), I’m completely on board. I loved the book as a stand-alone novel, but I definitely would not say no to reading more.