I'm glad there was something to enjoy in there. If a novel has a primary purpose, it should be to entertain, whether it's dramatic, or funny, or thrilling. That's one of the nice things about YA literature — it's got to be entertaining or else you lose your audience. A lot of adult literature seems to think it's okay to be dull, with the result that no bastard wants to read it (Peter Carey, I'm looking at you…)

However I'll disagree that it doesn't stand up to a more literary analysis. There is a general sort of coming-of-age theme in there, but the main thing for me was a dissection of the "chosen one" style of storytelling. We've seen these stories over and over again (Star Wars IV, Harry Potter, etc.) There's a chosen one who has magical powers and is destined to save the day, and in the end of the story he uses his magical powers to fulfil his destiny and save the day. Wooh! Didn't see that one coming. It's not that these are bad stories or they aren't entertaining, but there's something unsatisfying about a story that couldn't have ended any other way. It's also rather alienating to know that if I were in that story, I'd screw it up. I'd fail. I'd miss the vital shot and the Death Star would destroy the Rebel base.

Radium Baby deconstructs the whole "chosen one" idea. Instead of having a chosen one, there are three chosen ones. And what's worse, Sam is the least capable of the lot. Sam fails at every hurdle. He never wins a challenge and he bungles every opportunity he has to succeed. What he realizes in the end is that success in this case is an illusion. The title of Radium Baby doesn't mean anything, and the fight to defend it is incredibly destructive. It's dangerous and it's turning him into a nasty person. Sam's shining moment as a protagonist is when he rejects the competition. He's actually walking away from the whole "chosen one" plot and rejecting the dubious narrative he's been put into. He doesn't just change the ending, he changes the narrative. It's not something he needed unique magic (like the Force) to accomplish, it's a decision he came to because, although he's not the smartest or the most capable of the Radium Babies, he has become the most mature. A good comparison here would be with Star Wars VI, in which Luke doesn't save the day by using his magic powers but saves the day by rejecting the fight he's been manipulated into. It's a decision rather than some innate ability.

There are a number of other ideas in there too. There's idea that a sense of entitlement is also an invitation to stagnation. At the start of the novel Sam thinks he's the Radium Baby and has absolutely no desire to do anything other than work at a bath-house in the middle of nowhere. It's only when he has that taken away from him that he realizes how exciting the world can be and he aspires to achieve something on his own. There's also the idea that competitiveness can be destructive and pointless if it's not moderated by humanity. Yes, you can be the number one at anything if you try hard enough, but what's the point if you're a terrible person?

You mentioned literary techniques, so I don't know if you're looking for the techniques in individual scenes, but the things I mentioned above are the broad strokes of the novel. You may still disagree, and I would be curious to hear what you think.