My friend loaned this to me. It was her favorite series growing up (mine was His Dark Materials) and I was happy to read it and learn more about her. It's a very interesting premise. The writing is simple and suspenseful. I think I would have been more into it if I was still a teenager, the characters would have been easier to relate to. This also feels very much like the start of a series, a lot of threads are introduced and few are given any closure.