3.5 stars: What a great book! It actually hurt a little not to give this one a full 5, but I'll address that in a second. 
 The premise of this books is wonderful, the main characters loveable and realistic. I love how the parents, er, Dad in this story are involved and supportive of Tick. Too often in YA or children's novels the parents are oblivious and ignorant, an annoying trait that I refreshingly didn't find here. Edgar was a great dad! I also cherished how Tick loved his family, and the kindness he showed toward his sisters. True sibling love here :) 
 Tick was an endearing little nerd for whom I rooted for wholeheartedly. The writing was perfect for middle-schoolers/junior highers for whom this book was written for. There were plenty of cliff-hangers at the end of the chapter that made me want to keep reading. The villain was deliciously villainous and I loved the dropped hints throughout the book of revelations yet to come. The action at the end of the book was great and a nice pick up to the pace. 
 The pace... ah yes, we have arrived at the PACE of this book. The reason I took off a star and a half was due to how slowly this book moved along. The first three quarters of the book are completely devoted to Tick receiving his clues and chats with Mothball and Rutger in which he asks a zillion questions and never gets any answers. I felt like 200+ pages of the same situation was redundant and frustrating. It took an ENTIRE BOOK to set up the series. Does this make sense? Usually, a first book sets up the long plot but has a mini-storyline of it's own, and I feel as if this book lacked a substantial "stand alone" plot. The first book could have moved along quicker, had more plot to it. 
 That said... even though it took an entire book to set up the world, what an AWESOME world it is! I fully intend to continue reading this series, and I have a feeling now that the action has begun it won't stop, and the next few books will get higher ratings from me. Way to go Mr. Dashner, you've got me hooked!