Wow. I sat down to read this for a bit of light reading, and stood up again two hours later having finished the entire thing. It reads like a modern fairy tale, with a touch of darkness which I usually like to see in a book.
I actually watched the movie before reading it (gasp!), and it follows the overall storyline of the book surprisingly well (this is coming from a Percy Jackson and Artemis Fowl fan, so...). I recommend it to everyone and anyone.