An obvious strength of this story is its well-paced, suspenseful plot, which Wartski achieves by skillfully intermingling generally believable, fluent conversation and clean, short-sentence narration. As its title indicates, the first, "preparatory" part of the story is from Mai's point of view; readers establish necessary emotional rapport with the characters by seeing everything through the alertly sensitive eyes of a girl, just twelve, who, like Anne Frank, is at the beginning of womanhood. Wartski makes little of Mai's sexuality, but readers (females especially) are likely to respond to the feeling-dominated perspective Mai has on people and events. The last part of the adventure is from Kien's more pragmatic point of view; characters' feelings are secondary to the speed and turbulence of events, which are described with a forceful objectivity that thrusts the emotional burden onto the reader. By subtly adjusting her dialogue and descriptions to fit...