I liked this a lot.
It's a warm and hopeful story from a dystopia, with a happy ending for the protagonists, and I can believe that things will (slowly) get better in the wider world.
In a way, it reminded me of Tove Jansson's Moomin books, with a storytelling that's childish in parts (like Extremely Upper Management), but describing serious topics.
I liked the foreshadowing in the first chapter, where the reader gets clear hints that something's very wrong, but Linus is (wilfully?) ignorant.
I loved the descriptions of the children and their evolving relationship to Linus. I'm not sure who's my favourite -- maybe Talia.
The changes among (most of) the people in the village was maybe the weakest part -- it didn't seem all that realistic -- but I was willing to believe it while reading.
I haven't read anything by Klune before, I'm planning to check out his backlist (after I've read a few more of the books I've bought recently
)