I didn't think it was borderline YA, it's obvious that Staveley didn't intend that. But I do think Staveley is a mediocre writer who has absolutely no depth or complexity to his writing, which is why I compared it to a YA book where you wouldn't expect that.
I will take your word on that, Tom. I don't know that much about that stuff. I just know I love the writing of authors like Neil Gaiman, GGK, and Sean Williams. Whether they share something in common I couldn't say? They just seem deep and flow for me. Peak too. That is not to say I like all of their stuff (did not care much for Gormanghast and thought Otherworld was dumb) and my samples are somewhat limited. But just in my gut they pull me in. I thought Stavely was "OK" . It was more the way the story itself progressed and characters that that irked me.