I've been stewing on my opinion of this book for some time. It's getting intense amounts of press and hype online as the "next big thing." Written in a style more suited to adult fiction but with appeal for teen readers as well, it certainly has the potential to be very popular. But it's not The Hunger Games. If that's why you're picking it up, walk away now. 
 This book has an intense melancholy atmosphere that varies very little. It's a sad, thoughtful, and ever-so-slightly redemptive story of a young girl's coming of age. It just happens to take place during a semi-apocalyptic shift in the Earth's rotation. As Julia learns to cope with changes in her body, her friends, her school, all normal teenage things, she must also learn to cope with changes in the Earth itself: the one thing we tend to take for granted. 
 This is probably the most detailed telling of an apocalypse tale I have ever read. Even the minutiae of everyday life is affected in some way by "the slowing." It makes the events and the people all the more real, and when you walk away from the book it will stay with you for a long time. 
 But this is not your standard apocalyptic adventure. In fact, there's no adventure at all, and the small amount of romance is so mature and withdrawn it's hard to remember that those involved are supposed to be children. It's a presentation of teen life that is all-too realistic. The hero doesn't have any striking romantic lines, in fact he doesn't talk much at all. The main character is awkward and soft-spoken, not rebellious and motivational. Teen readers will have a hard time enjoying that, even if they can relate to it all too well. 
 The main reasons I didn't rate this book higher, though, are the story and the pacing. Walker's writing reminded me a great deal of Margaret Atwood. If you enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale you would certainly enjoy this. But like that book, there is no true conflict or plot in the traditional sense. It's just the events of a year in Julia's life. There's no clear ending, no real hero or villain, no central conflict at all. For some readers, this is not a problem. But for me, it had the effect of making me intensely bored.