Somewhere between 3.5 to 3.75. The premise of this one was really great, so many chaotic moving parts but it somehow came together in the end really nicely. We have Lan Tran, a donut-selling alien bringing her family to escape her war-torn planet. We have Shizuka Satomi, a violinist casually known as the Queen of Hell who has made a deal with the devil to send him seven souls in order to get her own back, and she's already done six. Then we have Katrina Nguyen, a trans female protagonist running away from a life of brutality, oppression, and exploitation because she also just so happens to be a prodigy with the violin.
Everything meshes together really well and the book has a lot of heart. It also has a very strong message against the repression and exploitation of queer people, especially those from the trans community. I support this message, but I also found that it was too on-the-nose here, and sometimes almost felt a bit didactic. But I acknowledge that perhaps this on-the-nose-ness is necessary in order to reach out and perhaps help some teens out there struggling the same way Katrina did, and to provide just that bit of encouragement and affirmation that they are seen, and that's great for them. Personally, it dampened my enjoyment a bit which is why my rating is the way it is, but hey, if this book does some good in the world, I'm all for it.