Two things surprised me about this book; one, that it was written with young adult readers in mind and two, just how much I enjoyed it. Half way through I wondered why the author hadn't written a sequel but towards the end that choice seemed right. This was not a tale that would have benefited from being drawn out into a series of books. It reads very well as a stand-alone novel. I was left wondering 'what happens next' particularly in terms of some of the characters I had grown to care about but sometimes its good to leave a few questions unanswered.