I read this as a class with my LA teacher, and let me just say: brilliant.

I absolutely adored this. It had very good humor in the first section of the book, probably to just let the readers "get into the mood", but as the book progresses, it takes a dark turn. A very dark turn, and as you get closer to the end, a tragedy happens.

Gosh, I can't quite grasp the words to describe this book, because it just is ... indescribable. It starts out with a very naïve young orphan, who goes on a journey to find his dead parents, and finds Zelda, a young girl, who was the only survivor in the fire.

All I can say is, I envy this man's writing, because he managed to shape a beautiful book, with light-hearted humor and then he adds more angst, tragedy, and very dark themes.

Read it. But you'll get that aching in your heart, when you want to read a sequel, and you want to find out what happens next, even though there is no 'next'.

[all my classmates enjoyed this; and that's saying A LOT]