I was a little reluctant to pick this up based on its reputation: I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the narrative. I expected a typical YA fantasy, but there is a grimmer, grittier, noir feeling to MPHPC, that makes this feel less like a book for teens and more like a book for adults that happens to be about teens. The photographs were also a bit of a surprise, and added a delightfully quixotic feeling to the novel.