Okay, I have one main reason to like this book (and this series): My 3rd grader loves it! He's a great reader (advanced level) BUT a very picky reader. So he's devoured many series: Chronicles of Narnia, Percy Jackson, Warriors, Paolini's trilogy, etc., BUT he's so annoyingly hard to please and it'll take lots of trial and error to get him into new books.series. He likes action, handles some violence okay, but doesn't want romance or anything "real" scary (i.e., ghosts, aliens, things that he might think true and will loose sleep over at night). For adolescent boys, this series seems to offer all that they want and none of what they don't. And it's made my son happy to loose himself in books again. I know he'll be exposed to great literature in the classroom; for at home reading, this series fills a huge void.