Books- The Thin Executioner

I picked up an advanced reader copy of this book by Darren Shan when I was in Portland for PLA. I wanted to blog some ideas about it as I read it. It's fairly good sized, but has a decent pace to it. Technically, a YA book, I'm finding it hard to put down. Not the best I've read, but enough tokeep me interested.
Quick synopsis- Skinny boy's dad is the local executioner- Dad is going to retire- Dad hopes it's his other sons who take his place, not his skinny son who shows no promise- Skinny boy is shamed and quests to homeplace of a god to gain invincibility to win the competition to win the Executioner post, thus restoring his name and proving to his dad that he is worth something.
Okay, not the best description, look it up on Amazon, I'm sure their's will be better ;]
The clincher is that Shan has borrowed much from Huckleberry Finn (It's no secret- it says it on the back of the book) That gave me something to think about.
The real story is turning out to be about friendship, growth, and eventually, I think we'll see a message of walking a peaceful path rather than violent.
Some allusions to Huck Finn are just too apparent, and grant me license here. It's been..what? 20 years since I've read Finn. I remember little parts and the basic story.
Right now, I'm 1/3 through and it's turned into a travel book. What started at a good pace has slowed somewhat and turned into another Tolkien book. I think I see what will come, but it's not overly predictable.
I'll give more review as I finish the book in a few days.