I didn't know this was a YA book when I bought it, and there are definitely parts where it's aimed more at kids, but it was still a fun read. A great concise style and the author avoids taking an excessively dogmatic stance on the thorny topic of what the heck young people are supposed to do to get ahead in the world. There are several passages that come close to sentimentality and fresh-air-and-exercise preaching but the author usually sidesteps it just in time via the delivery of some kind of sardonic slap in the face.

Like many US novels it's completely obsessed with ancestry, but in a way that feels less turgid than most, and the bad guys are easily unpleasant enough to feature in an adult novel. And most importantly it's packed full of killer lizards, holes and holes full of lizards, more lizards than you can shake a stick at, although that's not recommended procedure because it just makes them angry.