Yeah, the cutesieness got me a bit too - particularly with the Know-Nothings. I'm pretty sure their way of speaking was an affectation on their part to keep them out of trouble: they clearly knew plenty, and Tha figured out how to get them to tell what they knew without breaking their own language rules - I actually did like that bit, the way that she figures out how to decode what they're saying, if you will - but even so it remained aggravating.

What won you over? I had the feeling while I was reading that I was walking around and around a round house looking for a door or a window or anything, but aside from Tha's cleverness figuring out how to interpret the Know-Nothings (which is a pretty minor part of the book), I just couldn't find something that would let me into the story.