While this book wasn't exactly a slow start, I didn't find myself really drawn in at first. Darrow seemed a bit uninspiring, needing a major crisis to push him past anything besides complacency. But once he gets going, he really goes for it. And he goes. And keeps going. The dystopia really starts to show, and then the dystopia within a dystopia. I couldn't put it down by the end. I am looking forward to reading the next installment.