I don't even remember when I first gave this a try... just that the first 60 pages or so were so slow I gave up. Then I started manning the school library and came across it again, nothing much had happened so far besides the main character dying so I just picked up around chapter 20 and kept going. Turns out I had stopped just before the juicy flashbacks start, so I was hooked, and half embarrassed to be reading it in a school library because the romance was sweet and tender and... kinda more explicit than I expected from a YA book, I've gotta say. 
 The tension throughout the book is out of this world, but that isn't all; the characters are fantastic as well. Sad Seth and smartarse Tomasz and baddass Regine and the world building... I don't want to spoil you but it's an odd combo of not so original and remixing well known ideas very well. 
 It isn't a perfect book, getting a bit speechy towards the end but it's a GREAT reading experience. Will definitely check out more Patrick Ness.