After all the glowing reviews and praise, I expected something amazing from this book. I didn't get it. 
 There is a serious lack of plot for about 75% of the story. It's literally Meg running the mail room and making friends with the human-eating Others. If the characters were vivid and interesting that might have compensated, but they weren't. Meg was insipid and occasionally sickly sweet. The Others were either obnoxious in their attitudes towards humans, or ridiculous in their fawning over Meg. The 'villain' was simply embarrassing. But hey, there was a puppy! 
 The final 25% of the book contained all the tension and drama that was sorely missing from the first three-quarters, but it was too little, too late by that point. I am genuinely bemused as to why this book was rated highly by so many. 
 2.5 stars, but I've rounded up to three, because I always try to be generous with first novels in a series. Even this one.