This book successfully weaves together a post-apocalyptic story with a tale of the fae. We don't see the war between faeries and humans; the story starts in the years following it. I like that we see how different groups of people deal with surviving, and with the emergence of magic in the children (although, of course, I don't like "how" some of them survive/deal). 
 I found the characters to be very real - normal people dealing with extreme circumstances. So many books would have followed the cliched love story, but I'm very glad this one didn't. 
 There are many very sad moments in the book, but this is following an great catastrophe, so that is to be expected. I did find a lot of hope in the book, however, that outweighed the sadness. 
 There is definitely room for more from these characters, and I look forward to reading the next book.