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Paper Towns is a fantastic, interesting and unique novel that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I was very eager to read this following how much I loved An Abundance of Katherines,
and I decided that I had to read it before I saw the film due to my golden rule: read the
book before you watch the film. And this book did not disappoint…

Our protagonist is Quentin 'Q' Jacobsen, whose boring life is turned upside down when
the stunning Margo Roth Spiegelman moves in next door. To the young Q, Margo is an
adventure. It's all fun and games until one day Margo and Q come across a dead body.

Years later, our two main characters are in high school and have drifted apart. They
hardly speak until Margo climbs into Q's bedroom and invites him to join her on a
mission of revenge. They have their night of adventure, but when Q wakes up in the
morning, Margo has vanished. The main plot follows Q and his friends as they try to
uncover the cryptic clues Margo left behind…

This is a very cleverly written plot. The trail of clues gives the book a driving force,
something that makes you want to read on. It balances the comedy and the diary-like
stories with the mystery brilliantly, by mixing them together. The two are inseparable.
My favourite element of the plot is the three sections. The book is split into three parts,
namely The Strings, The Grass and The Vessel. These represent the three metaphors
used throughout the book. Each section focuses on one of the metaphors, and it is
mentioned in a number of forms. It also sets the atmosphere for each section: The
Strings is about breaking, and irreversible change; The Grass is about friends, family
and memories; The Vessel is about journeys and final destinations. This was a very
clever move that I haven't seen in a YA novel before.

In my opinion, the best thing about this book was the discussion of identity. The book
focuses on each character's different idea of Margo, and eventually their realisations
that she is just a person like them. There is so much I could say about the importance of
the ideals in this book. The metaphors are beautiful, and really interesting. There are
some gorgeous phrases that I would love to steal for my own writing. To give you a
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taster, my favourite quote is this..."It is easy to forget how full the world is of people, full
to bursting, and each of them imaginable and constantly misimagined."

John Green has done a remarkable job at balancing the metaphors and philosophical
discussions with developed characters and some really funny comedy. Q is relatable as
our main character, a teenager who is at a bit of a lost point in his life. He does what
most people would do in his situation, and is interesting without being precocious or
cringe-worthy. His speeches are really well-written, and reveal a lot about his
personality.

Q's best friend Ben was a character I disliked throughout the most part of the book, with
his derogatory language and backstabbing personality. However, I think he added
drama to the plot, and most readers can relate to having a friend like him. I really liked
the character of Radar, Q's other best friend who is more intellectual and into posting on
a site meant to be a parody of Wikipedia. In the second half of the book, we get to know
Lacey, a former popular person and enemy of the three boys who befriends them and
helps in the quest to find Margo. She was a character who I grew to like gradually, but by
the end of the book I could see how necessary she was to solving the mystery.