...So I have no idea what I would have rated this if it hadn't, well, been the fault in our stars with all the attention and expectations around it.
As far as books go, this one was good. Green gets teenagers right without being either patronizing or de-teenagering them. And while it was...formulaic in the way that so much realist fiction is, it was a very good and moving entry into the genre.
I think I will refrain from talking about the place people have erroneously assigned John Green in the history of YA literature. This book does not need to be groundbreaking (it isn't). It just needs to be good, and it is, and that's enough.