I wish I could give the first half of the book 2 stars, the second half 4 stars, and the ending 1.5 stars (I won't say 1 star because I can understand and that she wanted to write a sequel). 
 I had high expectations that weren't met. It was very unique, I've never read a book like this. But I wish it were better. However I will say, as someone who's more into fantasy, I was reading this as a way of branching out into different types of books. I felt it was safe to go with one everyone loves, but it didn't do it for me. My biggest issue is that I just didn't like ANY of the characters. So I didn't really care what happened to them. I might read the second book someday, but I have no plans of getting to it soon. 
 This book was ok, and I already know a few people who would absolutely LOVE it. So maybe I'll pass my copy on to them.