This book seems to garner very mixed reviews. I suppose I'm on one far side of the spectrum, since I loved it. Not so much for the writing, which lost me sometimes, but the story. I love stories from the late-19th century/early-20th century, and this feels like it comes straight from that period. I half expected it to, considering the kind of music and lyrics Meloy writes, but I'm usually wary about modern novels. 
 I will say this for the writing: I very much enjoyed the vocabulary. I have noticed with most modern novels I read, the vocabulary, while not exactly simplistic, is easier than I would like, especially young adult novels. Not so with Meloy. I commend his choice to use words that most of his target audience are not going to know. I did find myself cringing at some of his writing though. It's not so much that it was bad, but that it could've been better. 
 As for the structure of the story: I've heard from a few reviews and from a few people who attempted the novel that the first part is boring. I have to disagree. I was fully interested throughout. I thought the pacing was well done, with a fine balance of easy storytelling and suspenseful reading. 
 One complaint I've read is that certain questions weren't answered. I didn't really see anything major, but my real response to that is, did you not realize this is the first in a series? I just don't see that as a valid complaint.