The theme of chosen family and the bright possibility of magical/other children raised outside society's fears and condemnation sets up some enjoyable characters, but the story-telling, the authorial interjections over the ham-fisted oblivious protagonist, and the plausibility of every tense interaction either being ignored or deferred to a handy ultimately benevolent existing power at any level... all the worst aspects of YA that wants to tackle hard topics with a heavy simplifying gloss.