Barlow really thought out his world before he created it. The scene and narrative seem to be made clear early on, but then the road he writes begins to deviate and twist until eventually you realize you will end up somewhere completely different from where you thought you were going, and you have no idea where that is. It was extremely refreshing.
In my opinion, the best compliment you can give a book is to say it was a page-turner, and I simply could not put this one down. I'm really looking forward to seeing where and what Barlow creates next.