I went about this all a little backwards. I cheated, and I watched the movie first. I NEVER do that! I'm not sure why I decided to change things up this time around, and I'm still debating whether or not it was a good idea. I do think that the movie was extraordinarily well adapted from the book. They took out a lot of the parts of the book that bothered me, and the whole story began to make more sense. 
 First off, the concept is awesome! It's like a dystopian Lord of the Flies, but with some sort of moral code, and structure. I love the idea of this book, but the follow through needed some work. I felt like I was playing connect the dots, but my pen kept running out of ink. Like, when Thomas single-handedly hauls a full grown man up a wall. Using vines, of course. Or the fact that a handful of untrained teenagers (with no memories) somehow have the skills to build extensions on a house. My memory is intact, but I'm fairly certain that I couldn't build a birdhouse without some sort of a blueprint... or at least a how-to video on youtube. Oh, and in case you forget that Thomas is suffering from memory loss, don't panic. You will be reminded. Repeatedly. 
 I will read the second book (maybe even before the movie comes out), but I will do it warily.