"The book constitutes an excellent example of interdisciplinary study applied to a fluid landscape such as the Sino-North Korean border region. Emphasising the need to conduct parallel field research, it also opens a discussion about which methods could be more reliable in a framework of uncertainty on state data...The rigorous analytical approach that characterises the essays intends to invite a much more critical commitment to the study of borderlands in the world and their globalised entanglements."
- Michaela Bonato (University of Padova, Italy), IIAS Newsletter (September 2022)

"Decoding is a collection of essays that explores North Korea through people, politics, and trade existing on or outside its borders—mainly in the borderland with China... Decoding the Sino-North Korean Borderlands successfully moves beyond staid frameworks and enriches our view of North Korea from the outside in."
- Alyssa Park (University of Iowa), Journal of Korean Studies, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Autumn 2022)

"What these chapters have in common is intellectual authority; they are founded in profound, demonstrable knowledge of their subject matter, careful scholarship and analytical precision."
- Hazel Smith (SOAS), The China Quarterly, Vol. 250 (June 2022)

"Political relations between China and North Korea frequently make headlines, [but] we hear less about the economic side of the partnership, and still less about the impact on the lives of people living in the Sino-North Korean border region. The new book Decoding the Sino-North Korean Borderlands seeks to rectify that by looking at how the relationship plays out on the micro-level, on either side of the China-North Korea border."
- Shannon Tiezzi (Editor-in-Chief, The Diplomat), April 2021

"The editors and contributors should be applauded for tackling an unusually daunting project, given data limitations and the dearth of secondary scholarship to incorporate. They strive to inform readers from diverse angles, adding to awareness of what makes this area fascinating. [...] This is a tough border to crack, and we should be thankful that this intrepid band of researchers had the daring to piece together loose ends into a single book."
- Gilbert Rozman, The China Journal, No. 87 (2022)

"Adam Cathcart, Christopher Green, and Steven Denney’s Decoding the Sino-North Korean Borderlands makes a welcome appearance as the first English-language scholarly edited volume on the region. [...] Scholars interested in the future of both China and North Korea would do well to consult the insights of this exciting new work."
- Joseph A. Seeley, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Pacific Affairs: Volume 94, No. 3 – September 2021

"This book is a rare achievement and warrants reading. Taken together, this is an interesting and also enjoyable book to read for both undergraduate, as a broad introduction, as well as a graduate level courses, that introduces students on how to approach the murky James Bond-like puzzle of North Korea as an academic subject for research."
- Seong-Hyon Lee, China Review International, 2022