This book was just okay, for me. I found it difficult to get into, until I was about halfway through the book. The characters were mostly unlikeable, and their lives and circumstances soap-opera-ish. The writing was predictable and trite, which surprised me, given the author's creativity and inventiveness in the Harry Potter books. *MINI SPOILER COMING UP* For example, Rowling sometimes beat the reader about the head with her foreshadowing of a concept--such as Gavin's feelings for Mary and her reaction to it--making the writing almost clumsy at times.

I was disappointed. It wasn't the worst book I've read--not even close--but it was uninspiring and forgettable. Although I was not expecting this novel to be anything like the Harry Potter books, I was certainly expecting more magic, in the figurative sense.